USS - Increase lump sum or not?

bluebirdy

Hijacking this thread to thank everyone because I had literally yesterday seen the same thing (lower at 60y0m than 59y11m) independently and was mystified! Glad to hear this is a known glitch that will be fixed.

Cornish_mum

Hello just to flag that some pre2011 contributions are not all payable at 60. My 2007 issued contracts had a NRA of 65 alas. 

CM

swindiff

TotesClueless said:

swindiff said:

I have just checked mine, there has to be a bug in the modeller at 60 years and 0 months

59Y 9M  £18,505
59Y 10M £18,601
59Y 11M £18,685
60Y 0M  £18,471
60Y 1M  £19,542
60Y 2M  £19,602

Hi swindiff
Many thanks for checking this - glad it's not just me 

I just checked again and my pension at 60Y an 0M has now gone down to £18,108.  I have just sent an email asking if Fujitsu wrote the code for the new modeller 

Beckster1964

swindiff said:

TotesClueless said:

swindiff said:

I have just checked mine, there has to be a bug in the modeller at 60 years and 0 months

59Y 9M  £18,505
59Y 10M £18,601
59Y 11M £18,685
60Y 0M  £18,471
60Y 1M  £19,542
60Y 2M  £19,602

Hi swindiff
Many thanks for checking this - glad it's not just me 

I just checked again and my pension at 60Y an 0M has now gone down to £18,108.  I have just sent an email asking if Fujitsu wrote the code for the new modeller 

Yes, looks like the ‘new’ modeller is a bit more stingy than the last version 😂 😂. My estimated pension at 60 and 0M has dropped by 3%, but the progression through the months is now far more linear.

ussdave

Just had a play and I can't actually remember my old figures but for me there seems to be a slightly larger bump at 60 years and 1 month (rather than bang on 60 years).

The figures themselves still haven't incorporated the upcoming changes so I'm taking them with a huge pinch of salt anyhow.

swindiff

Email from USS

I refer to your recent emails which have been forwarded from your employer regarding the new Benefit Calculator.

I can confirm that we were aware of an issue with the modeller which meant it was providing incorrect results. This was due to the factors regarding early retirement which had been programmed into the calculator.

 As of 18th January, a fix has been completed on the modeller and so, the results from this date should now be accurate.

 Please accept my apologies for the discrepancies. If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

My Response

Thanks for your reply.  

The figure for 60Y and 0M still does not look right.  I would expect the biggest increase to be between 59Y 11M and 60Y 0M.  As 60 is the age at which I can retire without actuarial reduction being applied to much of my older pension.  The figures imply that actuarial reduction is still being applied to all my pension at 60, and then being removed at 60Y 1M?

As has been said it will all change again from April so not that bothered, and would obviously work to 60y 1M if I had to, but it still does not seem correct to me.

Grant1968

Stumbled upon your thread here and I thought you may like to know that, on Friday, USS changed the Early Retirement factors. Unsurprisingly they have got much worse, but more concernly these new factors are set to apply to all benefits, not just those going forward. In essence this means that someone retiring after 31st March 2024 will lose ~5% of their pension if they retire 5 years early and ~8% if they retire 10 years early. The current benefit calculator does not take these changes into account. I was going to retire next year, but in light of this I may go before April this year now.

swindiff

Are you sure?  I thought pre 2011 pension was protected by law?

swindiff

In bold half way down the page

Remember - the benefits you’ve built up are also protected by law and the Scheme Rules. If there are any changes to USS in the future, it won’t affect what you’ve already built up.

https://www.uss.co.uk/for-members/leaving-or-already-left/your-pension-after-leaving

Grant1968

You may be right about the pre 2011 pension, and I note the example it gives is for someone who joined after 2011, but as written it seems to suggest the new factors will apply across all years. I spoke to USS this morning and they confirmed the new factors applied for all years. My UCU contact seems to think that, whilst the benefits cannot change, the factors can change retrospectively, but she is unsure about pre 2011. To my mind, if the factors change this has a material impact on the benefits received so I am unsure it confirms to scheme rules.. USS also admitted in my call today that the factors changed only on Friday and no comms have been sent out about this, which is very sneaky.