Help me understand my wife's NHS pension please

Moonwolf

arthur_fowler said:

Thanks. 

The more I find out about this, it seems the less I know. Alongside the McCloud complications, I have realised that she paid AVCs for quite a lot of years and I am struggling to find what happened to them. I need to dig out old paperwork in the hope that helps. Annoyingly I didn't download each years TRS and I can't see anything on the current dashboard that is helpful in terms of the AVCs.

I have notes that shows that at least some AVCs were used to buy extra years, but can't see that reflected in the dashboard.

There are a few ways to increase NHS pension.  Most should show on old payslips.

- Buy additional pension with a lump sum - if she did this it should be on her total reward statement.
- Buy additional pension through a monthly extra pay which should be on the payslip
- ERRBO - pay an extra percentage to take the pension early.  This should be on the payslip
- AVCs with a pension provider through payroll which should be on the payslip and there should be paperwork from Standard Life or Prudential

A pension like the one I have would have its own paperwork but should show up on bank statements.

More here.

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

arthur_fowler

Moonwolf said:

arthur_fowler said:

Thanks. 

The more I find out about this, it seems the less I know. Alongside the McCloud complications, I have realised that she paid AVCs for quite a lot of years and I am struggling to find what happened to them. I need to dig out old paperwork in the hope that helps. Annoyingly I didn't download each years TRS and I can't see anything on the current dashboard that is helpful in terms of the AVCs.

I have notes that shows that at least some AVCs were used to buy extra years, but can't see that reflected in the dashboard.

There are a few ways to increase NHS pension.  Most should show on old payslips.

- Buy additional pension with a lump sum - if she did this it should be on her total reward statement.
- Buy additional pension through a monthly extra pay which should be on the payslip
- ERRBO - pay an extra percentage to take the pension early.  This should be on the payslip
- AVCs with a pension provider through payroll which should be on the payslip and there should be paperwork from Standard Life or Prudential

A pension like the one I have would have its own paperwork but should show up on bank statements.

More here.

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

I don't have all the old payslips, certainly none from the first 10-15 years

arthur_fowler

Moonwolf said:

arthur_fowler said:

Thanks. 

The more I find out about this, it seems the less I know. Alongside the McCloud complications, I have realised that she paid AVCs for quite a lot of years and I am struggling to find what happened to them. I need to dig out old paperwork in the hope that helps. Annoyingly I didn't download each years TRS and I can't see anything on the current dashboard that is helpful in terms of the AVCs.

I have notes that shows that at least some AVCs were used to buy extra years, but can't see that reflected in the dashboard.

There are a few ways to increase NHS pension.  Most should show on old payslips.

- Buy additional pension with a lump sum - if she did this it should be on her total reward statement.
- Buy additional pension through a monthly extra pay which should be on the payslip
- ERRBO - pay an extra percentage to take the pension early.  This should be on the payslip
- AVCs with a pension provider through payroll which should be on the payslip and there should be paperwork from Standard Life or Prudential

A pension like the one I have would have its own paperwork but should show up on bank statements.

More here.

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

I found some old records including the paperwork for when she started the AVCs (9% contribution) in 2005. They were used to buy extra years of 1995 section. Even when 1995 section closed and she was moved onto 2015, it looks like the AVCs should have continued to buy extra years of 1995 until she stopped paying the AVCs in 2021.

I can see that on her current pension online account (she has moved onto the new platform) extra years have been bought, but as I don't have historic copies of her yearly statements I can't work out whether they have consistently been added to her 1995 section. As my wife has worked for multiple GP surgeries in this time I need to find out to be sure she doesn't miss out. I have raised a query with the NHS pension team, but I'm not optimistic of a helpful response.