Pension contribution taken from before tax or after?

treadstone66 wrote: »

I was given 3 pension options when I started this job.
Opt out
Opt in for an amount I specify (presumably giving me a partial pension)
Opt in for the maximum amount.

This doesn't make sense in relation to being a member of the Teachers Pension Scheme (TPS). You can't be partly in - you're either in or out. By 'teacher', you did mean a school teacher, yes? Who is your employer...?

I have more questions for HR and I'll do some more research on this subject as there seem to be some opposing points of view.

Things are confused because you have been given DC scheme wording for a DB scheme (or so we are assuming - hence my question about your job and employer). The terms of the TPS itself aren't in doubt - as a statutory scheme, they are set out in law.

Presumably it must make a difference to my pension that someone (employer / gvt) is putting into it.

In a DB scheme, the employer (or in the case of the TPS, the government) promise to pay a pension in the future that is defined in the present, and on one level, whether this pension is paid for up front or when it becomes due is a technicality.

In practice, having a private sector DB scheme that isn't healthily funded isn't a good idea, because the employer could go bust in the future, and so not be around to fund its pension promises when due. This consideration doesn't apply to the TPS, which is explicitly run on a 'pay as you go' basis, but even if it did, it's not that the employer contribution would make a difference to the pension as such, rather to the likelihood of the benefits promised actually being paid.

What is the name of your pension scheme?

treadstone66 wrote: »

It's TPS.

There is no choice of contribution rate in the TPS, so someone has got very confused:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/512/regulation/185/made

(PS - that table is for when the CARE scheme came in. The bands go up by CPI each year.)