NHS Pension

saucer

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

PoGee said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

I retired in January 2020 when I was 60 but I actually left at the end of September 2019 because I couldn’t face the pressure of working another winter. There is absolutely no problem doing that. 

Thanks for reply. Was there much of a difference in the pension when you took it a few months earlier than what it would have been at actual age of 60?

I didn't take my pension early and I wouldn't advise you to do that.  I just left 4 months early and lived off my savings and then drew my pension at the normal pension age.  I paid into the NHS pension scheme for 42 years so not paying for 4 months would not have had any discernable impact on my pension, however If I'd drawn my pension 4 months early I would have lost 5% of my pension and 3% of lump sum which would have been significant

I don't think you are right there. Actuarial reduction takes account of part year, so you would have faced a reduction for 4 months, which would be more like 1/3 of 5% etc. It is meant to be cost neutral and compensate fir you taking pension for longer

Flugelhorn

saucer said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

PoGee said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

I retired in January 2020 when I was 60 but I actually left at the end of September 2019 because I couldn’t face the pressure of working another winter. There is absolutely no problem doing that. 

Thanks for reply. Was there much of a difference in the pension when you took it a few months earlier than what it would have been at actual age of 60?

I didn't take my pension early and I wouldn't advise you to do that.  I just left 4 months early and lived off my savings and then drew my pension at the normal pension age.  I paid into the NHS pension scheme for 42 years so not paying for 4 months would not have had any discernable impact on my pension, however If I'd drawn my pension 4 months early I would have lost 5% of my pension and 3% of lump sum which would have been significant

I don't think you are right there. Actuarial reduction takes account of part year, so you would have faced a reduction for 4 months, which would be more like 1/3 of 5% etc. It is meant to be cost neutral and compensate fir you taking pension for longer

according to the tables I linked to in an earlier post @GrubbyG would have got 0.986 of the pension at 4 months early so would have got £98.60 for every £100 - losing 1.4% but got the pension for longer 

GrubbyGirl_2

saucer said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

PoGee said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

I retired in January 2020 when I was 60 but I actually left at the end of September 2019 because I couldn’t face the pressure of working another winter. There is absolutely no problem doing that. 

Thanks for reply. Was there much of a difference in the pension when you took it a few months earlier than what it would have been at actual age of 60?

I didn't take my pension early and I wouldn't advise you to do that.  I just left 4 months early and lived off my savings and then drew my pension at the normal pension age.  I paid into the NHS pension scheme for 42 years so not paying for 4 months would not have had any discernable impact on my pension, however If I'd drawn my pension 4 months early I would have lost 5% of my pension and 3% of lump sum which would have been significant

I don't think you are right there. Actuarial reduction takes account of part year, so you would have faced a reduction for 4 months, which would be more like 1/3 of 5% etc. It is meant to be cost neutral and compensate fir you taking pension for longer

But I didn't take my pension early at all I took it on my 60th Birthday

Flugelhorn

@GrubbyGirl_2 I think it was just a response to you saying " however If I'd drawn my pension 4 months early I would have lost 5% of my pension and 3% of lump sum which would have been significant" which is not true and might put people off taking the pension when they are ready to do so, I think the figures you quoted were for taking it a whole year early 

GrubbyGirl_2

Flugelhorn said:

@GrubbyGirl_2 I think it was just a response to you saying " however If I'd drawn my pension 4 months early I would have lost 5% of my pension and 3% of lump sum which would have been significant" which is not true and might put people off taking the pension when they are ready to do so, I think the figures you quoted were for taking it a whole year early 

At the time when I spoke to NHSBSA they told me they dealt in full years so if I left at age 59 it would be 5% and 3% less that's why I just lived off savings for 4 months.  Not saying you're wrong, just what I was told

Flugelhorn

fair enough! The NHSBSA can be a bit unhelpful sometimes - in the depths of their website they produce the tables by month (I've linked them in an earlier post)  - the actual amount is about 0.4% per month early that you take the pension. I opted not to take mine early too but took it at 60 and was still working for about 15 months afterwards 

saucer

Flugelhorn said:

fair enough! The NHSBSA can be a bit unhelpful sometimes - in the depths of their website they produce the tables by month (I've linked them in an earlier post)  - the actual amount is about 0.4% per month early that you take the pension. I opted not to take mine early too but took it at 60 and was still working for about 15 months afterwards 

I think it is more that the people on the end of the phone are not very knowledgeable. I had a specific issue I was working through a few years ago (protection of pay) that I was chasing them for updates and they never knew what I was talking about. Nice people but not very well acquainted with all provisions within the pension, which isn’t great.

GrubbyGirl_2

Flugelhorn said:

fair enough! The NHSBSA can be a bit unhelpful sometimes - in the depths of their website they produce the tables by month (I've linked them in an earlier post)  - the actual amount is about 0.4% per month early that you take the pension. I opted not to take mine early too but took it at 60 and was still working for about 15 months afterwards 

I learned afterwards how bad they were when for the first 2 years they didn't give me any uplift, and they kept saying it was because I had exceeded the LTA even though my pension had been reduced to pay the tax I owed.  In the end I had to make a formal complaint asking them to show me the exact section of the regulations that said that people who had exceeded the LTA would not get inflationary uplifts.  They couldn't and apologised but I still didn't get an uplift until the current year, they didn't give me the back pay for the years I didn't get.  I gave up complaining as the uplift was so small just glad I started this year on the right amount

GrubbyGirl_2

saucer said:

Flugelhorn said:

fair enough! The NHSBSA can be a bit unhelpful sometimes - in the depths of their website they produce the tables by month (I've linked them in an earlier post)  - the actual amount is about 0.4% per month early that you take the pension. I opted not to take mine early too but took it at 60 and was still working for about 15 months afterwards 

I think it is more that the people on the end of the phone are not very knowledgeable. I had a specific issue I was working through a few years ago (protection of pay) that I was chasing them for updates and they never knew what I was talking about. Nice people but not very well acquainted with all provisions within the pension, which isn’t great.

I think you're dead right

Flugelhorn

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

Flugelhorn said:

fair enough! The NHSBSA can be a bit unhelpful sometimes - in the depths of their website they produce the tables by month (I've linked them in an earlier post)  - the actual amount is about 0.4% per month early that you take the pension. I opted not to take mine early too but took it at 60 and was still working for about 15 months afterwards 

I learned afterwards how bad they were when for the first 2 years they didn't give me any uplift, and they kept saying it was because I had exceeded the LTA even though my pension had been reduced to pay the tax I owed.  In the end I had to make a formal complaint asking them to show me the exact section of the regulations that said that people who had exceeded the LTA would not get inflationary uplifts.  They couldn't and apologised but I still didn't get an uplift until the current year, they didn't give me the back pay for the years I didn't get.  I gave up complaining as the uplift was so small just glad I started this year on the right amount

Oh goodness yes - I asked them about second bite and they denied I would get any more and insisted that I had had everything, then plonked 3K in my bank account and increased the pension without explaining why. They told you load of nonsense, lots of people inc me exceeded LTA and still got the increases. You should have got the back pay!!!