NHS Pension Advice

Flugelhorn

Nelliegrace said:

Do check what your State pension will be @Shane22 Not just how many years but how much pension you will receive. I had 41 years contributions but found out a few weeks ago that because of my small NHS pension I would get considerably less than the full state pension. The NHS pension scheme had opted us out. I remember all of the pressure to opt out but I never chose that option. I had to buy five extra years to get almost the full state pension.
We are an emotionally and physically vulnerable lot, we old health staff, having propped everyone else up for years.  It was a tough few weeks. 

to get the full SP you probably have to work to 66 or whatever - I left the NHS and took my pension at 60 but my SP won't be the full amount because of leaving when I did, nothing to do with the NHS pension - if I had stayed to 66 I would have got a lot more SP

Flugelhorn

The early retirement calculator is about half way down this page - you need info from your TRS  as well - have you had a look at that ?

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/getting-estimate-your-pension

molerat

Nelliegrace said:

Do check what your State pension will be @Shane22 Not just how many years but how much pension you will receive. I had 41 years contributions but found out a few weeks ago that because of my small NHS pension I would get considerably less than the full state pension. The NHS pension scheme had opted us out. I remember all of the pressure to opt out but I never chose that option. I had to buy five extra years to get almost the full state pension.
We are an emotionally and physically vulnerable lot, we old health staff, having propped everyone else up for years.  It was a tough few weeks. 

Please give it a rest.  You keep waving that misinformed axe around. You were not hard done by.  The post 2016 pension, even if you had to pay for some of it, gives you more than you would have got under the old scheme.  If you stopped working, as I did, pre 2016 your pension was fixed at that rate and that is all you would have got, what you were entitled to under the old pre 2016 rules.  You didn't have to top it up but doing so gave you extra pension very cheaply. Millions of people from all walks of life and occupations were contracted out paying less NI and receiving more than the equivalent in an occupational pension.

hyubh

Nelliegrace said:

Do check what your State pension will be @Shane22 Not just how many years but how much pension you will receive. I had 41 years contributions but found out a few weeks ago that because of my small NHS pension I would get considerably less than the full state pension. The NHS pension scheme had opted us out. I remember all of the pressure to opt out but I never chose that option. I had to buy five extra years to get almost the full state pension.
We are an emotionally and physically vulnerable lot, we old health staff, having propped everyone else up for years.  It was a tough few weeks. 

No, you haven't lost out because the NHS pension scheme (and therefore yourself a member of it) contracted out. Yes, you will end up with at least as much as you would have had under the old state pension, and very very likely rather more. Check out what has been pretty much daily threads on the general topic for the past couple of weeks...

molerat

hyubh said:

Nelliegrace said:

Do check what your State pension will be @Shane22 Not just how many years but how much pension you will receive. I had 41 years contributions but found out a few weeks ago that because of my small NHS pension I would get considerably less than the full state pension. The NHS pension scheme had opted us out. I remember all of the pressure to opt out but I never chose that option. I had to buy five extra years to get almost the full state pension.
We are an emotionally and physically vulnerable lot, we old health staff, having propped everyone else up for years.  It was a tough few weeks. 

No, you haven't lost out because the NHS pension scheme (and therefore yourself a member of it) contracted out. Yes, you will end up with at least as much as you would have had under the old state pension, and very very likely rather more. Check out what has been pretty much daily threads on the general topic for the past couple of weeks...

They are a serial poster of the same moan.  Also their state pension age was increased from 60 to 66 overnight !

Flugelhorn

molerat said:

hyubh said:

Nelliegrace said:

Do check what your State pension will be @Shane22 Not just how many years but how much pension you will receive. I had 41 years contributions but found out a few weeks ago that because of my small NHS pension I would get considerably less than the full state pension. The NHS pension scheme had opted us out. I remember all of the pressure to opt out but I never chose that option. I had to buy five extra years to get almost the full state pension.
We are an emotionally and physically vulnerable lot, we old health staff, having propped everyone else up for years.  It was a tough few weeks. 

No, you haven't lost out because the NHS pension scheme (and therefore yourself a member of it) contracted out. Yes, you will end up with at least as much as you would have had under the old state pension, and very very likely rather more. Check out what has been pretty much daily threads on the general topic for the past couple of weeks...

They are a serial poster of the same moan.  Also their state pension age was increased from 60 to 66 overnight !

when will they ever stop - I knew my pension age was going up years ago - no surprise. honestly if they didn't have the NHS pension there wouldn't suddenly be an equivalent increase in the state pension

Nelliegrace

And those who never worked get more than those who slogged for over 50 years. 

GrubbyGirl_2

Nelliegrace said:

And those who never worked get more than those who slogged for over 50 years. 

What rubbish. 

Plus your NHS pension is better than any other pension none public sector people can get, you would not be able to get the same benefits from the contributions you made anywhere else.  If you work until your SPA you'd get the full pension, but you're not you're retiring 6 years earlier which you would not be able to do if you weren't contracted out to the NHS pension.  .  As an NHS pensioner I do get fed up of the "I was never told" argument.  You were told, you never bothered to read what you were given or sent and certainly never looked on the NHSBSA web site.  It must be terribly irritating for none NHS people to hear NHS people moaning about their paltry pension!

Flugelhorn

Nelliegrace said:

And those who never worked get more than those who slogged for over 50 years. 

I doubt they could get more than someone who had worked in the NHS for 50 years - I did 35 and my pension is absolutely fine thank you 

Nelliegrace

It is terribly irritating to hear all of the false reports about how much NHS front line staff are said to be paid, and how much people think their pensions are because most people assume that everyone works full time, everyone manages to work until retirement age in spite of all the injuries and stress,  that all NHS Trusts pay extra for nights and weekends, and somehow everyone is promoted to a manager’s salary by year three. 
My mother’s nursing pension was just over £10 a year, they asked her how she wanted it paid! And she didn’t get enough pension contributions in her own right because women got the sack when they married. 
When I was retired on health grounds I may have missed a few details about pensions between the chemo, the heart damage, and the spinal injury, and the nightmares, but if it was there it was well hidden. My union rep went through it with me.

My point is that the state pension may be less that you expect, even if you have the required number of years of contributions. If you are counting on it to calculate if you can afford to retire it might be an unpleasant surprise.

I have been able to sort mine out because I leaned how to manage a small income, “Good pay for a  woman,” and I had savings. It does rankle that I did not have the information in good time. 

The men I spoke to when I was nearly £2,000 short said in effect, “This is your pension, we have checked the figures and they are right.” It was not much help. 
The woman I spoke to said, these are the figures, it is upsetting, now these are your options, and I can help you get the problem sorted.