NHS pensions advice

BRichard

Can anyone tell me how the pension is calculated on the amount of final salary? I was grade 7 on the whitley pay scale when I left the NHS in 1998, which was around £22k at that time and I was in the scheme for 3 years. Will the final salary for pension calculations be 22k, or 22k inflation adjusted?

Beddie

Inflation adjusted. Get a forecast from them, for full details.

JoeCrystal

That is about £39k in today's money. So basically as a very tough idea £1462 annual pension and tax free lump sum of £4387 if taken at 60

GrubbyGirl_2

It will be subject to inflation but the starting pension would be 3/80 of £22k per annum so around  £825 a year plus inflation.  But the easiest way to find out is to look at your NHS Total Rewards Statement using your Government Gateway Login

https://www.totalrewardstatements.nhs.uk/Login/GatewaySignin

Download it each year as you can't get previous copies once they have updated them for the previous year

Moonwolf

You should be able to get an estimate from NHS BSA here https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/getting-estimate-your-pension.

The value is the value of your pension in 1998 adjusted for CPI.  There are inflation tables here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-service-pensions-increases

Each year a new table is added which adjusts the multiplier based on CPI.

My understanding is you can take the value (approx 3/80 * 22,000 or £825, I assume your actual figures aren't exactly 3 years and £22,000) at the time you left.  Find the date you left and use the multiplier there.  ie If you left between 28th June 98 and 27th July 98 your multiplier in March 2022 was 1.7598 which would make the pension worth £1,452 pa at March 2022

saucer

I had never come across those tables before Moonwolf. Thank you!

BRichard

Moonwolf said:

You should be able to get an estimate from NHS BSA here https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/getting-estimate-your-pension.

The value is the value of your pension in 1998 adjusted for CPI.  There are inflation tables here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-service-pensions-increases

Each year a new table is added which adjusts the multiplier based on CPI.

My understanding is you can take the value (approx 3/80 * 22,000 or £825, I assume your actual figures aren't exactly 3 years and £22,000) at the time you left.  Find the date you left and use the multiplier there.  ie If you left between 28th June 98 and 27th July 98 your multiplier in March 2022 was 1.7598 which would make the pension worth £1,452 pa at March 2022

This is a great answer. Would you happen to know what the calculations would be if I decided to take it as I lump sum instead?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

BRichard said:

Moonwolf said:

You should be able to get an estimate from NHS BSA here https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/getting-estimate-your-pension.

The value is the value of your pension in 1998 adjusted for CPI.  There are inflation tables here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-service-pensions-increases

Each year a new table is added which adjusts the multiplier based on CPI.

My understanding is you can take the value (approx 3/80 * 22,000 or £825, I assume your actual figures aren't exactly 3 years and £22,000) at the time you left.  Find the date you left and use the multiplier there.  ie If you left between 28th June 98 and 27th July 98 your multiplier in March 2022 was 1.7598 which would make the pension worth £1,452 pa at March 2022

This is a great answer. Would you happen to know what the calculations would be if I decided to take it as I lump sum instead?

Take what as a lump sum?

This is a DB pension not a DC pot of money.

Moonwolf

BRichard said:

This is a great answer. Would you happen to know what the calculations would be if I decided to take it as I lump sum instead?

You automatically get 3x lump sum, so in the figures above you would get £4,356. You can also give up, up to 25% of your annual pension and you get £12 cash for each £1 of annual pension you give up. (For the record this is a bad deal in my opinion). You can’t take more than that by law, you can’t just turn it all into cash.

Details is page 26 of the scheme guide here. https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2021-07/1995-2008%20Members%20Guide%20%28V23%29%2007.2021.pdf

Cotrelone37

As the OP left NHS service prior to April 2008, commutation (i.e. giving up £1 of annual pension for £12 lump sum) doesn't appear to be an option

Moonwolf

Cotrelone37 said:

As the OP left NHS service prior to April 2008, commutation (i.e. giving up £1 of annual pension for £12 lump sum) doesn't appear to be an option

Yes, you are correct, I totally missed that, that’ll teach me to offer advice without reading the detail. It applies to me as well but I would never have considered commutation as I think it is bad value for me and I have a decent pot.