NHS Pension & leaving the NHS.

Moonwolf

Universidad said:

Moonwolf said:

It roughly means I can buy the same things today as I would have been able to buy with £2668 in 1998.

An esoteric point, that a lot of people seem to disagree with, but it doesn't mean that (even roughly). 

It does mean that you can continue to spend the way that people spend on average, to the same degree. 

But it doesn't mean that you can buy the same things.

Inflation doesn't (try to) account for the way that people's spending habits change over time, even when people's spending habits change because things are getting more expensive. 

The inflation basket contains what has been calculated to be an average way that people spend, and you can argue about the methodology, or talk about personal inflation all day - but fundamentally if people stop buying steak because steak becomes too expensive for the average person to buy, then it drops out of that basket, and you will no longer be able to buy the same amount of steak with your income, even if it always matches inflation.

The basket is designed to represent overall costs though. If steak dropped out of the basket because people weren’t buying it, it doesn’t mean its price has moved differently to other products, it might or might not have, just that it isn’t considered representative.

Of course steak might have dropped out because no one is buying it because it is more expensive, but that might be because of costs going up or supply issues, reduced demand might lead to oversupply and prices coming down or a reduction in supply, the price might well drop again eventually.

It appears true that until recently food and clothing have been cheaper as a proportion of household spend than they were fifty years ago but we spend a lot of money on things that didn’t even exist and are now considered near essential, like some form of connectivity. 

I think roughly covers it, particularly as it would be impossible to model it perfectly for everyone.

MarlowMallard

Moonwolf said:

It appears true that until recently food and clothing have been cheaper as a proportion of household spend than they were fifty years ago but we spend a lot of money on things that didn’t even exist and are now considered near essential, like some form of connectivity. 

I think roughly covers it, particularly as it would be impossible to model it perfectly for everyone.

I read somewhere that in the 1950s the average UK household spent approximately 1/3 of income on food and 1/6 on rent/mortgage. Today these have more or less swapped. 

Johnnyboy11

That's probably why RPI was dropped in favour of CPI which excludes housing costs (like mortgage interest and Council Tax).

Flugelhorn

B0bbyEwing said:

Thanks.

Financially speaking my opinion is that she would be better off remaining where she is. But there's more than 1 factor in the decision and a good pension, while good, is still only 1 factor. Mental wellbeing is another factor & when there's 20-25 years remaining it becomes a little hard to ride it out. I can put up with a carp job & a carp toxic environment because that's all I've ever known so I'm conditioned to it. Am I saying that makes me better? No certainly not. If anything it makes me worse. 

The money in the here & now will be barely any different. Slightly less per hour, slightly more hours so at the end of the day the decision needs to be what she's most comfortable with & will make her happiest. 

Pension is just 1 factor but it's something she's never really paid much mind to beyond "I hear NHS pension is good" like many other people. So I'm trying to find out how good, how it works, what happens should she leave so that she'll have this information & can use it for her decision.

And nope, that's not to try sway her 1 way. Like I said, there's many factors & she needs to be happy.

yes the pension is good but you do have to put the time in - there won't be that much after 3 years but better than nothing. My OH left the NHS and took the pension 12 years later, it had gone up about 50% in that time

B0bbyEwing

Will she be contacted come retirement age about this or just how does it work basically in her getting paid out from it?

Will she get automatically / should she ask for some kind of documentation on it, something to identify 'her pot'?

Basically what I'm badly wording is wanting to avoid when she comes to retire having to 'find' this pension in order to be paid out, it not being found, then jumping through hoops and what not where following XYZ steps now may prevent that.

Aretnap

It won't be paid automatically - (a) she has choices to make about when she takes it, whether to take a lump sum or a higher pension etc and (b) twenty years from now the administrators aren't going to know her address, let alone her bank details, unless she tells them.

So she will need to contact the NHS pending administrators to claim it when the time comes.

Aretnap

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

The NHS is a huge employer with many different employers and roles.  If she's not happy in her current job, maybe it's time to look for a new one in a different part of the NHS

I'd echo this. She has to do what's best for herself of course, but do consider all the options. Working for a one man band has its own pitfalls, and looking for a different role, a different team, a different location within the NHS might be a less radical way to find a better working environment.

B0bbyEwing

Aretnap said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

The NHS is a huge employer with many different employers and roles.  If she's not happy in her current job, maybe it's time to look for a new one in a different part of the NHS

I'd echo this. She has to do what's best for herself of course, but do consider all the options. Working for a one man band has its own pitfalls, and looking for a different role, a different team, a different location within the NHS might be a less radical way to find a better working environment.

The decision has now been made.

Whether it turns out to be right / wrong / good / bad, time will tell. 

I did suggest other departments / areas of the NHS. I think she struggles a bit with the politics & where common sense is seemingly not allowed. 
Everyone will have their own experiences & stories to tell but I know of a few others who don't have positive things to say about working for the NHS either. 

And there'll be many who say it's excellent I sure.