Civil service pension

coyrls · 21 March 2017 at 10:50AM

I worked in the Civil service in the early 80s and left after more than 2 years’ but less than 5 years’ service and was given the option of a refund of my pension contributions, I think the alternative was a transfer into an occupational scheme that would accept the transfer and I don’t think there was an option to become a deferred member of the Civil Service scheme (although it was a long time ago). I was in my twenties and took the money. I guess in strictly financial terms it was the “wrong” decision and I haven’t been in a DB scheme since but the money had a higher utility for me then than it would now and I retired at 59 with adequate pension provision.

I know the correct advice is that you are better off the earlier you start contributing to a pension but people shouldn’t underestimate the boost they can make to their pension in later years when they are likely to have more “spare” money available. It is quite possible to make up for early “mistakes”.

woolly_wombat · 21 March 2017 at 11:39AM

I took a refund of NHS pension contributions in the early 1980s rather than transfer into a subsequent employer's pension scheme.

I then compounded the error by opting out of SERPs in the late 80s when I started an Equitable Life with-profits pension.

Don't beat yourself (or anyone else) up over it Bezm. You did what was right for you at the time.

As my late mother would have said "these things happen".

I'm now paying class 3 NICs to make up for past errors.

coyrls · 21 March 2017 at 12:06PM

woolly_wombat wrote: »

I then compounded the error by opting out of SERPs in the late 80s when I started an Equitable Life with-profits pension.

Yep, I did the very same thing!

Acquinas · 22 March 2017 at 1:34PM

I worked in the Civil Service too from the 1980s through until this last year. I worked with many women who had effectively been "paid off" when they got married, but returned to work in their 30s and 40s. It was, I think, called a "marriage gratuity" and was in essence a refund of the notional contributions to what was then a non-contributory pension. Most of the ladies concerned got a few hundred quid to pay for their wedding or the deposit on a house. The option was never available to men and reflected a mindset that when a woman got married she gave up her job to raise children and then rely on financial support from their spouse. The fact that it was not open to men at all shows us pretty much exactly what is was: a bribe to ship out and leave the promotion opportunities to us blokes.

Those who are taking a rather sniffy attitude to the OP should may be think about the prevailing attitudes in the 1970s and 1980s and the extent to which these women really had a choice. Maybe the OP's life is better for having left and I'm guessing that as a teacher she probably had a rather more fulfilling life than many civil servants. But I'm not buying this "cake and eat it" trope.

Civil service pension

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