partial retirement

Idreamofplants

I'm wondering if there is anyone that has taken partial retirement at 50 from the NHS from the 1995 scheme? I have been working at the top of a senior band for the past 10 years but cannot face continuing in this role for another 10 years. If I take a lower banded post it will affect my pension at 60 as the 1995 scheme is final salary - so I've been looking at taking it now instead so I can begin to look at other roles. My manager is supportive of reducing my hours for the required first year (they don't know I will then look to move jobs). I will continue to pay into the 2015 scheme to build that up. Does this sound like a crazy idea? The reduction in salary for taking early isn't something overly concerning as I will claim for an extra 10 years. Any thoughts appreciated.

kaMelo

If you stayed in the same role but on less hours it would have no affect on your 95 pension entitlement because you cannot accrue any more years in the 95 scheme and your entitlement is worked out on whole time equivalent pay.

If you move to a different, lower paying role, if you qualify it is possible to protect your pay for calculating pension entitlement in the 95 scheme.

https://faq.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/knowledgebase/article/KA-04382/en-us

LightFlare

Just to check - are you eligible to take at 50 ?

If you take the 1995 now and continue to work part time - how does that equate to your current full time wage ?

Just to add - Stepping back a grade can often be as exhausting as can being part time

KnackeredAchilles

You need to be aware of the impact of partial retirement on NHS redundancy payments. I partially retired over 2 years ago and am considering taking voluntary redundancy. However, my payment would be much less as a result of partial retirement effectively resetting my reckonable service. Service prior to taking the 1995 pension is paid at statutory rates which is a lot less. Unison are campaigning on this but I can't see it going anywhere. I can't post a link but suggest you do a web search on Unison NHS partial retirement.

butterflymum

UNISON on NHS partial retirement issues

Also, a reminder that apparently "You can access your 1995 NHS pension scheme at age 50 only if you were an active member between 31 March 2000 and 5 April 2006."

horsewithnoname

Not in the health service, but I have been partially retired for about 6 years now, and it’s one of the best things I ever did. Also, because my pension increases with inflation, and my pay didn’t increase for years, taking it at 58, I get more pension now than if I’d waited until 60. If you can afford to, I wouldn’t hesitate. You may find it makes an intolerable job tolerable, if you do it less 😉

wantedhero1

The good news is you are not being penalised, and on the figures you have posted no tax should end up due on that interest at all. What has gone wrong is the collection, not the liability.

Two separate things are happening here.

Your tax code is a forecast, not a bill. HMRC saw £4,515 of interest reported for the year to March 2026, assumed this year would look similar, and cut your code to collect tax on it through your pension payments. That is where the £74.60 came from. Codes get adjusted like this about a year in arrears, which is why one can change with nothing in your circumstances having changed.

Your actual liability is worked out separately at the end of the year, and in a set order: non-savings income first against your personal allowance, then savings income on top. The starting rate for savings is a £5,000 band, and it is reduced pound for pound by non-savings income above your personal allowance. Your drawdown of £1,610 is nowhere near £11,313, so the full £5,000 survives, and the £1,000 personal savings allowance sits on top of that.

Which means the £6,000 figure is available to you now, precisely because your other income is low. The explanation you were given has it the wrong way round: drawing a larger pension is what would start eating into the starting rate, not a smaller one.

On the practical side, tax collected through a code that turns out to be too high either gets corrected in-year or comes back after 5 April through a P800 calculation. You have had the code changed once already, so it is worth another call if 1021 still looks short against your £11,313.

Marcon

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144872#Comment_82144872

This is a very detailed and probably helpful reply, but I think you've posted it on the wrong thread!

Idreamofplants

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144972#Comment_82144972

yes I am very appreciative of any comments but this helpful reply is to a different post I think

Idreamofplants

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82143499#Comment_82143499

yep I've been in the scheme since 2000 so I am eligible. There are lots of posts at lower grades so it would be easier for me to move about if I took a role that wasn't right whereas at my current grade there's no chance of a similar post coming up within a 100 mile radius. I have worked part time a lot of my career and have ended up working many unpaid hours as there is never any back fill for the other hours - but yes I agree that taking a lower grade will have it's pit falls.

Idreamofplants

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82143687#Comment_82143687

sorry to hear this happened - I wasn't aware of it. I applied for redundancy a while ago and was told they will never offer it to me as it's a clinical role that is hard to recruit to - I hadn't realised that this situation had happened for people who have been able to take redundancy after partial retirement.