USS mess - Statements v. Summary

WitchGrobags

Question for any USS experts - how reliable is the "Your Summary" information presented on the front page of the members' bit of the website?  It seems to be giving the same information as the Annual Statement, and in almost identical language: "Here's what you've built up"; "Here's what you've saved" - which sounds pretty firm and authoritative. But I now find that the amounts which were showing on my Summary page have been changed (ie, reduced) from what they were last time I looked.  Given that I'd always assumed (and been told in the past by work pensions officer, when we had one) that the two things were essentially the same, interchangeable, this has been an unpleasant surprise.

At the same time, perhaps not coincidentally, USS have written to say that, whoops, they made a mistake with the Illustrator tool which they have now put right, and not to use it as the basis of any calculations (but, hmm, what else is it for?).  Well, actually I've never taken much notice of the Illustrator, but the problem is, I HAVE used the information on the Summary page (and the quote for 20% retirement flex that USS sent this time last year) as the basis of calculations for a flex this year, which I've told my employer I will be taking. 

Asimovs_nightfall

I had an experience recently where everything was lower.  I contacted them and they replied - after a while - to say "A recent data update affected the figures you can view online, but it has now been corrected... you will find the original figures have been restored."

They were. Remember that the benefit calculator are estimates but the the summary does reflect as you note, the figures in the Annual Statement.

Hope this helps a bit.

WitchGrobags

Asimovs_nightfall said:

I had an experience recently where everything was lower.  I contacted them and they replied - after a while - to say "A recent data update affected the figures you can view online, but it has now been corrected... you will find the original figures have been restored."

They were. Remember that the benefit calculator are estimates but the the summary does reflect as you note, the figures in the Annual Statement.

Hope this helps a bit.

Interesting. I agree about the benefit illustrator, which I now view as, basically, a toy, since it's been wildly inaccurate before. The issue here is that I feel that the Summary is presented as equivalent to the Statement - which I'd filed away when it arrived last Autumn - and had been relying on the figures in the Summary, which I now realise was significantly different to the Statement, and a quote which they have now also reduced.  It seems as though we should not be taking the Summary at face value.

Barralad77

Can I just check that you’re saying that the Summary (today) is lower than was showing a few weeks/months ago? The figures produced by the modeller can be all over the place (up-down-up….) but I’ve never known the ‘Summary’ figure to go down (from memory). 

As for the quote, I was under the impression that USS only provide a quote for a date within 6 months of the request. Are you saying that they sent you a quote last summer for a date over 12 months later?

uss_hamish

The figures just under Retirement Income Builder under Your Summary - where it says "Here's what you've built up to 31 March 2025 in the defined benefit part of USS:" absolutely shouldn't be decreasing under normal circumstances, no. Are you sure they have? If you have evidence, especially if it's actually less than your last annual statement, I'd take that up with USS. Worth looking under View breakdown to see if you can work out what year is anomalous.

 The other part, "Here's what you've saved up to 30 July 2025 in your Investment Builder pot, the defined contribution part of USS: " changes daily and can be as volatile as whatever you have it invested in.

In general USS will provide a quote up to 12 months in advance, not 6. It too is an estimate, despite the name.

heroic

It does sound odd for the Summary figure under the DB section to drop, especially if it’s showing less than your last Annual Statement. As Hamish said, the DC pot will fluctuate daily, but the DB part shouldn’t decrease unless there’s been some kind of correction.

If you’ve got screenshots or records of the previous higher figures, I’d definitely contact USS and ask them to explain what’s changed. It’s worth also checking the ‘View breakdown’ section to see if a particular year’s accrual looks different, which might give you a clue.

I’ve found USS can be slow to respond but they will usually investigate if you query it directly. Given you’re making decisions based on those numbers, I’d want them to confirm in writing what’s correct before proceeding.

Barralad77

In general USS will provide a quote up to 12 months in advance, not 6. It too is an estimate, despite the name.

They didn’t do that for me: I asked for one 8 months out but was told to wait 2 months and then request. Wouldn’t be surprised that you get a different response depending on who you’re contacting. One important point is that if you request a quote (say) in November for a finishing date of the following May then they will use the value they expect the pension to increase by the following April, but come April that figure may have changed. I think that’s what happened this year: they anticipated the April increase would be 2.5% but it turned out to be 1.4%. A quote provided in November would have been too high as a consequence. Could that be at the bottom of this issue?

MarlowMallard

Barralad77 said:

In general USS will provide a quote up to 12 months in advance, not 6. It too is an estimate, despite the name.

They didn’t do that for me: I asked for one 8 months out but was told to wait 2 months and then request. Wouldn’t be surprised that you get a different response depending on who you’re contacting. 

For info, I requested a quote in Sep 2023 for flexi-retirement Aug 2024, and they gave it.  They then changed various ERFs and commutation factors etc in Feb 2024 so I had to request a new quote, but it wasn't much different and the second quote was within 1 percent of what I got.  

To me 6 months looks ridiculously short for planning purposes, I think it says 12 months in the written rules so I would raise a complaint in your position. 

Barralad77

MarlowMallard said:

Barralad77 said:

In general USS will provide a quote up to 12 months in advance, not 6. It too is an estimate, despite the name.

They didn’t do that for me: I asked for one 8 months out but was told to wait 2 months and then request. Wouldn’t be surprised that you get a different response depending on who you’re contacting. 

To me 6 months looks ridiculously short for planning purposes, I think it says 12 months in the written rules so I would raise a complaint in your position. 

Thanks, but it’s water under the bridge now. I finish later this year, and have a quote so all is good. Retirement can’t come soon enough.