Nhs pension-opt out?

QrizB

I do hope everything works out.

Please pop over the debt-free wannabe board if you need any help with dealing with the CC debt etc. The nice folk who hang out on that board are great at that sort of thing.

kezzygirl

QrizB said:

I do hope everything works out.

Please pop over the debt-free wannabe board if you need any help with dealing with the CC debt etc. The nice folk who hang out on that board are great at that sort of thing.

Thankyou, I was a proactive member for some years and then got financially straight, but slipping back a little so I'm on a return!

Pat38493

Kezzygirl all respect to you.  Several of my extended family and my wife work or worked in NHS mental health services.  

As others have said, even today the NHS pension is an extremely valuable benefit worth possibly around a third or your salary on the long term so it should be the absolute last resort to pull out of it even temporarily, and also be careful about losing death in service benefits. 

kezzygirl

Nurse2047 said:

Are you bottom band 7, mid or top band 7? From what I have researched nhs bands don’t hit highter tax bracket until band 8 as starts on 

£50,952 where top 7 is  £50,056. Unless doing a lot of overtime?  Any agency work you can do to boost income or self employed side hustle?  I know it’s a big chunk of our wages every month but try and remain in it for all its benefits.

I am looking into private online prescribing clinics and mental health assessments, but they require a commitment of at least 10hrs a week, which on top of my 3 or 4 13hr shifts a week may prove too optimistic! I'm not sure what I could do as a side hustle but I'm definitely wanting more challenge at the min

hugheskevi

DoublePolaroid said:

DietIrnBru said:

The NHS pensions providers in both Scotland the rest of the UK need to address the lack of education in the workforce about the pension - not wait until near retirement and waiting for the !!!!!! moment. 

Why this post question keeps coming up amazes me. Heard a few colleagues  saying they would drop out “a while” to pay for weddings?!?! Trashing years of savings for the sake of a 4-5 figure cost of a wedding day. And the lack of financial literacy that they think they will get the “contribution” shown on the payslip, rather than it going to the pension - completely missing the point of tax relief and gross pay contribution. Not to mention the loss of the employer contribution. 

Amazed. And a Band 7 too. 

I agree but this also makes me hypocritical as I was in the same boat, sailing the seas of NHS pension scheme ignorance, until a few years ago. 

I think a large part of it is simply disinterest in pensions amongst the general population rather than a scheme specific thing so you could argue that everyone could do with that education rather than just folk who work for the NHS. Related to this is the understandable (to a degree) phenomenon that younger people (the sorts who might need to pay for weddings, for example) feel so far removed temporally from retirement that they simply don’t consider pensions a priority and feel that they can park the issue as one to think about later in life. 

Another issue that most definitely afflicts doctors, particularly younger ones who have become more and more disillusioned with “the system” is that their cynicism extends to assuming the pension must be crap whilst also assuming they got screwed over by 2015 and it must be substantially worse than the 1995 scheme. That this may translate into a complete lack of curiosity about the benefits they are getting clearly wanders into spitefully excising their own nose territory. 

I will add that the information the NHS does provide doesn’t make it easy even for those who do want to educate themselves. For example the scheme booklets they publish online fail to include a decent chunk of rather important information. 

At any rate my reaction has been to make it my mission to extol the virtues of the scheme to all my mates and colleagues. I think it might have irritated some of them, but a few others might thank me later.

I think an important part of it is also that these are amongst the public service pension schemes which have the largest member contribution rates - in most private sector schemes members are going to be paying only a few percent usually, whereas in schemes such as NHS and Teachers they are paying double digit member contributions, and that looks a tempting amount for anyone facing financial strain.

Combine that with 13 years of pay freezes and below inflation pay increases, combined with hikes to member contributions and increases to National Insurance when contracting out was abolished, and you have a bit of a perfect storm for members to consider opting out.

Interestingly, many members of older legacy schemes may well have lost out on a fairly sizable amount of pension by remaining members of the scheme - it may well have been optimal for those only a few years from retirement to opt out and get deferred member increases of CPI than remain a member and have pension linked to a salary which is increasing well below inflation. But most are so disengaged with their pension that they never consider such things.

Nurse2047

I’m shocked by some of the replies to the message on this thread when someone asks for advice and questioning the intelligence of nhs workers! I taught myself financial literacy via this forum, I was not taught it by my parents and whilst working in the NHS yes I’m also a band 7 there has been no advice or teaching regarding pensions by the NHS. When I have sought advice from HR and NHS pensions it’s largely inaccurate advice. 

Yes I agree people need to take more interest in their pensions before !!! That moment however when someone asks for advice I think a little more empathy and compassion is needed. 

Can I add NHS workers are not unintelligent, I’m also a non medical prescriber and doing my Masters also at the moment and with 2 NHS specialist degrees. 

Maybe some of the negative posters need more emotional intelligence….

Lemon_dr1zzle

It’s a shame the NHS, police schemes etc don’t offer a 50/50 like LGPS so many people are switching at the moment. 

Andy_L

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

I know relatively speaking the number of posts on here are a tiny sample of the scheme members but NHS staff and teachers being amongst the most common to start threads like this makes you wonder what other poor financial choices they make.

NHS staff do make up the biggest group of people with a (public sector) FS pension (~1.8m IIRC). So you would expect them to top the charts of people asking the question



 

Tucosalamanca

Nurse2047 said:

I’m shocked by some of the replies to the message on this thread when someone asks for advice and questioning the intelligence of nhs workers! I taught myself financial literacy via this forum, I was not taught it by my parents and whilst working in the NHS yes I’m also a band 7 there has been no advice or teaching regarding pensions by the NHS. When I have sought advice from HR and NHS pensions it’s largely inaccurate advice. 

Yes I agree people need to take more interest in their pensions before !!! That moment however when someone asks for advice I think a little more empathy and compassion is needed. 

Can I add NHS workers are not unintelligent, I’m also a non medical prescriber and doing my Masters also at the moment and with 2 NHS specialist degrees. 

Maybe some of the negative posters need more emotional intelligence….

I agree.
During my time in the NHS (five years), it was extremely unusual to find someone who understood pensions.

Information from the NHS was virtually non existent, Unions would offer presentations but the depth of knowledge was entirely inadequate and they were not good communicators.

Coming from the private sector and acutely aware of how hard it is to build a comparable pension pot, it was disheartening to see how poorly informed staff were and how many were not contributing.

Pension education could be a powerful motivational tool and give staff something to aspire to, it's something that the NHS appears to have missed.

LHW99

Another colleague is near retirement and has heart issues and is likely going to be medically retired.

Just one more thought to add to those above. My mother was also an SRN back in the day, when social benefits for single mums were almost non-existent, and means to compel an absent husband to pay maintenance were also very hit & miss, particularly if you were already poor.

Her health was wrecked by many years working at a time when protecting staff from injury was not under consideration. She did not get any option for medical health retirement, and struggled to make ends meet for many years (and then all record of the years she was in the NHS scheme was lost). I hope those colleagues of yours with poor health have remained in the NHS scheme, which I believe does now provide for those unable to continue when medically unfit, and get the benefits due.

And if ever you actually change jobs and leave the scheme - make sure you retain paperwork to prove your entitlement!