USS - General discussion

Universidad

FIREDreamer said:

Wow that’s a harsh change.

Very much so, but on the plus side remember that most folks retiring from USS any time soon will have the majority of their benefits available unreduced from 65 or earlier. 

Unlike with the public sector schemes the NPA of the benefits is tied to the SPA at the time of accrual, not at the time of retirement. 

When I look at early retirement from the USS scheme I'm taking ERFs for half the years when compared to my CS pension. (Of course in terms of accrual the CS pension still fares very well under that comparison, but that's a different story).

NickBFS

I can think of only two reasons to transfer it to a SIPP:
1) you think that you would be better than USS at managing the investment;
2) you want to extract the tax-free portion while leaving the rest invested.

I also have a not-huge-but-not-insignificant sum left in the IB after taking the maximum lump sum and, for now, I will leave it there as I do not see a compelling reason to take it out, especially as there are no fees to pay on it (unlike what happens with a SIPP).

Incidentally, you cannot add to the IB after retirement (except perhaps through transfer of another pension?) but, if you have not contributed 100% of your taxable income to your pension this tax year, you could open a SIPP and contribute to it up to that level (this is what I did). 

swindiff

Do you start paying fees for the IB once retired?  I know when employed there are no fees.  

NickBFS

swindiff said:

Do you start paying fees for the IB once retired?  I know when employed there are no fees.  

I don't think so. I certainly have not seen anything in the USS literature to suggest so.

swindiff

If there are still no fees when retired that would be enough to convince me not to move it.

uss_hamish

swindiff said:

Do you start paying fees for the IB once retired?  I know when employed there are no fees.  

No - I had a 1-1 with the pensions person (is this provided by USS or by my university, not sure?) and asked this explicitly. Still no fees after retirement.

seraphina

I’ve just been digging through my Retirement Income Builder details on the USS website. Can anyone shed any light on why my annual income for 2022/2023 is considerably less than the amount I’ve added in 2021/2022 and 2023/2024? I had a significant promotion starting April 2022 so I should have contributed quite a bit more than 2021/2022. Thanks in advance!

swindiff

Because that is when they made the extremely punitive changes to the pension scheme before reversing them a couple of years later. They set a cap of £40k on DB contributions and changed the accrual rate to 1/85th. The cap is now just over £70k and the accrual rate is 1/75th. 23/24 would have been worse but for the fact they added £215 to it as part of the restoration of benefits.

Southend_2

seraphina said:

I’ve just been digging through my Retirement Income Builder details on the USS website. Can anyone shed any light on why my annual income for 2022/2023 is considerably less than the amount I’ve added in 2021/2022 and 2023/2024? I had a significant promotion starting April 2022 so I should have contributed quite a bit more than 2021/2022. Thanks in advance!

I suspect you don't recall (your colleagues) standing on the picket line in the freezing cold. 

NTFI19081

Hi, I am trying to understand what the USS rules say on working after taking the DB part of the pension. If made redundant I am likely to need to take my pension, since the rules apparently say that whilst I can take benefits unreduced from 63.5 years, this only applies to active members. So taking the pension will avoid further ERFs. I am only 55, so would seek another role. But it seems I cannot do this with a USS employer? What if I wait  few months? Anyone who knows this situation - I will appreciate your throughts.