Do employer contributions count towards my amount of final pension?

Albermarle

Somewhat annoyed that the two IFAs I've spoke to have never been as clear as you lot on a forum in ten minutes!
The IFA's were probably being cautious in what they said as anything they say can be potentially used against them in future ( people claiming bad advice) so they probably hesitate to say much until they know the 100% facts about your situation. Plus of course they will be weighing you up as a potential paying client . Or maybe they just were not very good.
On here we can be more relaxed about what we say, and we have heard the same types of questions and misunderstandings many times before , so know how best to answer without getting too overcomplicated ( usually)

JoeCrystal

bigonroad said:

Somewhat annoyed that the two IFAs I've spoke to have never been as clear as you lot on a forum in ten minutes!

Because the NHS pension scheme is straightforward to understand in the first place, you should be able to read and understand the scheme booklets, and there is a load of information available online. Like this: https://www.bma.org.uk/pay-and-contracts/pensions/increases-to-your-pension/inflationary-increases-to-your-nhs-pension or even official NHS pension website: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-pensions

It is great that you are asking questions since many NHS staffs do not understand or value their DB pension schemes since they are generally paying peanuts for such amazing value. Essentially, it is worth a third of your salary on top and the tax treatments are a lot more generous for accessing the DB pension schemes compared to the DC pension schemes which mostly in the private sector.

xylophone

That's amazing, does the annual revaluation stop if I stop paying in? Say I stop work at 55, but don't take the pension until 68

Your pension becomes "deferred" - it is index linked in deferment.

AlanP_2

If there is no "pot" does there no max pot size I can hit to stop the annual revalidation any more?

Revaluation will continue but if the annual pension value gets very high (>£50k say) then you will need to consider the Lifetime Allowance. 

Annual Pension * 20 = £x, the LTA is approx £1.1m and there is a tax charge if £x exceeds the LTA. You may have seen reference to this with various GPs and Consultants leaving the NHS as "not worth working anymore" 

Andy_L

bigonroad said:

That's amazing, does the annual revaluation stop if I stop paying in? Say I stop work at 55, but don't take the pension until 68
If there is no "pot" does there no max pot size I can hit to stop the annual revalidation any more?
Somewhat annoyed that the two IFAs I've spoke to have never been as clear as you lot on a forum in ten minutes!

As an "active member" annual revaluation is (CPI)  inflation  + 1.5%.
If you leave and become a "deferred member" it drops to only inflation

nigelbb

JoeCrystal said:

bigonroad said:

Somewhat annoyed that the two IFAs I've spoke to have never been as clear as you lot on a forum in ten minutes!

Because the NHS pension scheme is straightforward to understand in the first place, you should be able to read and understand the scheme booklets, and there is a load of information available online. Like this: https://www.bma.org.uk/pay-and-contracts/pensions/increases-to-your-pension/inflationary-increases-to-your-nhs-pension or even official NHS pension website: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-pensions

It is great that you are asking questions since many NHS staffs do not understand or value their DB pension schemes since they are generally paying peanuts for such amazing value. Essentially, it is worth a third of your salary on top and the tax treatments are a lot more generous for accessing the DB pension schemes compared to the DC pension schemes which mostly in the private sector.

It can be useful to consider an NHS pension as deferred salary paid in retirement. As previously noted the pension accumulates at 1/54 of gross salary. Average lifespan at retirement is over 20 years so that's a minimum additional index linked 20/54 of each year of salary that will be paid as pension.