Do pension contributions define what I get from an NHS pension?

millymollymandy73

I am in the NHS Scotland pension scheme. I have 2 jobs in different NHS health boards, one is taking contributions of 5.6% from me and the other is taking 7%. My understanding is that if this were all one job I would be contributing 11.2% to my pension. I was worried that I am not paying in enough and had a confusing conversation with SPPA, but where we got to is that the pension I get isn't defined by what I contribute but on my overall salary (I think across both jobs). So does that mean that regardless of what I contribute (even though it seems to be less than what I would if it were one job), I am still entitled to the same pension I would be if my income was for one employer rather than split across 2?

crv1963

Yes. What you contribute has no bearing on the pension you will get and your employer(s) are paying significantly more. All NHS Contributions like all NI contributions are paid to todays existing pensioners, they are not invested in any funds.

Does your total employed hours come to more than 37.5 hours per week?

itsthelittlethings

Surely if it was one job you would be paying about 6%?

Marcon

itsthelittlethings said:

Surely if it was one job you would be paying about 6%?

Contributions in this scheme are tiered, based on actual earnings from each job (not Whole Time Equivalent), so two part-time jobs would mean a lower contribution rate for each job. Rates from 1 April 2025 are:

• Up to £13,259: 5.2% 
• £13,260 to £27,288: 6.5% 
• £27,289 to £33,247: 8.3% 
• £33,248 to £49,913: 9.8% 
• £49,914 to £63,994: 10.7% 
• £63,995 and above: 12.5% 

Nebulous2

It changed about 18 months ago. Before that pension contribution rates were based on the full-time equivalent salary, which disadvantaged part-timers. It changed so that you paid a rate based on your earnings, so a full-time person on £30k and a part/time person on a higher grade and £30k will be paying the same rate of contributions. My contribution rate dropped. 

You are one of the winners from that, with 2 part-time contracts, keeping you below the higher tiers that you would be on if you had a single contract.