Overview
Planning for retirement means greater peace of mind for financial security in later life, and with our advice you will be able to make more informed decisions.
The NHS Pension Scheme is a defined-benefit pension scheme, which guarantees an income at retirement based on your earnings during the time that you worked for the NHS. Examples of the pension you may receive at retirement can be found on the NHS Pensions website for your relevant country of work:
The NHS Business Services Authority in England and Wales
Scottish Public Pensions Agency
The Business Services Organisation (BSO) in Northern Ireland.
You will be automatically enrolled into the NHS Pension Scheme when you start. You should receive a welcome letter and be asked to provide your National Insurance number and proof of your date of birth. For pension purposes, your ‘employer’ is the organisation responsible for administering your pension record. In general practice:
If you are employed outside general practice, your employer is the NHS organisation you work for.
Our advice outlines information about net pensionable earnings (NPE), and the process of setting up pension contributions for you, which is different depending on the UK nation you practise in. Find out what counts as NPE and how it affects the Annual Reconciliation Report (ARR) process to confirm the previous year’s NPE, if you practise in England or Wales.
We also outline the current rate of employer contributions based on pensionable earnings, and how the scheme benefits are calculated. Next, we cover the ways in which you can increase your pension in the NHS and how dependent cover works.
You can also find out how to get information from your NHS pension provider and view your statements.