My initial plan to retire at 59 hoping for some advice

Twigwidge

Thanks Dazed_and_Confused, I am certainly Dazed and Confused about the contracting out point raised by BrilliantButScary. So from your comments are you suggesting that the SP forecast would take into account any contracting out? or do I need to try and find this Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE) number to work out a reduction of this SP forecast?

Marcon

Twigwidge said:

Thanks Dazed_and_Confused, I am certainly Dazed and Confused about the contracting out point raised by BrilliantButScary. So from your comments are you suggesting that the SP forecast would take into account any contracting out? or do I need to try and find this Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE) number to work out a reduction of this SP forecast?

The COPE is no longer included on forecasts because it caused more confusion than it was worth. It is already taken into account on your forecast.

See the link in my first post (page 1 of this thread).

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Twigwidge said:

Thanks Dazed_and_Confused, I am certainly Dazed and Confused about the contracting out point raised by BrilliantButScary. So from your comments are you suggesting that the SP forecast would take into account any contracting out? or do I need to try and find this Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE) number to work out a reduction of this SP forecast?

You only need to know any of that if you want to understand the minutiae of how the new State Pension works for those under transitional rules (as you are).

If you aren't that bothered then just make sure you add three more years to what you had accrued at 5 April 2024.  Your personal maximum is £221.20 and three more post 2016 years gets you there.

And you could well have already clocked up the first of the three needed.

Twigwidge

Marcon said:

Twigwidge said:

Thanks Dazed_and_Confused, I am certainly Dazed and Confused about the contracting out point raised by BrilliantButScary. So from your comments are you suggesting that the SP forecast would take into account any contracting out? or do I need to try and find this Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE) number to work out a reduction of this SP forecast?

The COPE is no longer included on forecasts because it caused more confusion than it was worth. It is already taken into account on your forecast.

See the link in my first post (page 1 of this thread).

Thanks Macron I missed that, thanks to yourself and Dazed_and_Confused for clearing that up

swindiff

It is worth looking at this and checking the benefit modeller carefully.  I have decided the reduction in my pension is too punitive if I go 1 day before my 60th birthday, because this will mean that all pre 2011 service will have an ERF applied.  From memory each month I retire earlier reduces my pension by about £90 a year.  But the difference between 59 and 11 months and 60 is over £2k

https://employers.uss.co.uk/-/media/document-libraries/uss/employer/eu0620-npa-retirement-changes.ashx

swindiff

I just checked the modeller, these are the figures in my case

Age	Ann Pens.	Delta
59.80	£ 19,100.00
59.90	£ 19,225.00	£    125.00
59.10	£ 19,342.00	£    117.00
59.11	£ 19,474.00	£    132.00
60.00	£ 21,514.00	£ 2,040.00
60.10	£ 21,605.00	£       91.00
60.20	£ 21,690.00	£       85.00

The age is Year and Month, not a decimal figure.

swindiff

If I continue this on at 6 month increments, it is clear that the age of 60 is the threshold which has by far the biggest impact on annual pension.  The increments start to get bigger once the late retirement factors start to kick in beyond 65, but they still pale into insignificance compared to the change at 60.

Age	Ann. Pens.	Delta
59.80	£ 19,100.00
59.90	£ 19,225.00	£    125.00
59.10	£ 19,342.00	£    117.00
59.11	£ 19,474.00	£    132.00
60.00	£ 21,514.00	£ 2,040.00
60.10	£ 21,605.00	£       91.00
60.20	£ 21,690.00	£       85.00
60.30	£ 21,774.00	£       84.00
60.40	£ 21,860.00	£       86.00
60.50	£ 21,951.00	£       91.00
60.60	£ 22,029.00	£       78.00
61.00	£ 22,558.00	£    529.00
61.60	£ 23,128.00	£    570.00
62.00	£ 23,702.00	£    574.00
62.60	£ 24,317.00	£    615.00
63.00	£ 24,951.00	£    634.00
63.60	£ 25,617.00	£    666.00
64.00	£ 26,308.00	£    691.00
64.60	£ 27,040.00	£    732.00
65.00	£ 27,845.00	£    805.00
65.60	£ 28,973.00	£ 1,128.00
66.00	£ 30,127.00	£ 1,154.00
66.60	£ 31,326.00	£ 1,199.00
67.00	£ 32,530.00	£ 1,204.00

The age is Year and Month, not a decimal figure.

GunJack

Just be aware you may have to pay for a couple of years of voluntary NI (post 2016) years to top up to full state pension if you're not planning on any further paid work once you pack in the uni job...

Twigwidge

swindiff said:

If I continue this on at 6 month increments, it is clear that the age of 60 is the threshold which has by far the biggest impact on annual pension.  The increments start to get bigger once the late retirement factors start to kick in beyond 65, but they still pale into insignificance compared to the change at 60.

Age	Ann. Pens.	Delta
59.80	£ 19,100.00
59.90	£ 19,225.00	£    125.00
59.10	£ 19,342.00	£    117.00
59.11	£ 19,474.00	£    132.00
60.00	£ 21,514.00	£ 2,040.00
60.10	£ 21,605.00	£       91.00
60.20	£ 21,690.00	£       85.00
60.30	£ 21,774.00	£       84.00
60.40	£ 21,860.00	£       86.00
60.50	£ 21,951.00	£       91.00
60.60	£ 22,029.00	£       78.00
61.00	£ 22,558.00	£    529.00
61.60	£ 23,128.00	£    570.00
62.00	£ 23,702.00	£    574.00
62.60	£ 24,317.00	£    615.00
63.00	£ 24,951.00	£    634.00
63.60	£ 25,617.00	£    666.00
64.00	£ 26,308.00	£    691.00
64.60	£ 27,040.00	£    732.00
65.00	£ 27,845.00	£    805.00
65.60	£ 28,973.00	£ 1,128.00
66.00	£ 30,127.00	£ 1,154.00
66.60	£ 31,326.00	£ 1,199.00
67.00	£ 32,530.00	£ 1,204.00

The age is Year and Month, not a decimal figure.

Yes I get that same massive increase on the modeller between 59 and 11 months and 60. It seems an incredibly unfair to have this cliff edge ERF applied. I did query this with one of the pensions team in work and she seemed to think that if you exit through voluntary severance that some of the ERF may be waived by USS. However I have looked high and low on the USS website and cannot find any information on this, I have asked USS on their online question form if any ERF is waived with voluntary severance so hopefully I may get a reply soon. 
I have been working my way slowly through the USS General discussion thread and in a reply to another query @ussdave says "You could consider trying to get voluntary severance as that may allow you to draw your pension without any early retirement factors" which does seem to tie in with the pension team at my uni mentioned.
Even if I have to take the hit I will still leave on 31st July but it would be great if there is a way around this, I am also exploring the posibility in work of perhaps deferring severance by a couple of months by reducing my contracted hours but not sure if the Uni will allow this.

Twigwidge

GunJack said:

Just be aware you may have to pay for a couple of years of voluntary NI (post 2016) years to top up to full state pension if you're not planning on any further paid work once you pack in the uni job...

Thanks @GunJack, yes I will definitly pay the two final voluntary NI contributions that I need to get full State Pension, I will aim to buy one each year for the first 2 years after I retire in case they increase the charges