UK Pensions — From State Pensions to Stakeholders

A broad outline of pension plans for UK residents

State pension scheme entitlement

You can get a State Pension forecast telling you in today's money the State Pension you have already earned and what you can expect to have earned by State Pension age.

It will also include details of your additional State Pension, if you have one. You can download the State Pension forecast application form from The Pension Service website, or call the Retirement Pension Forecasting Team on 0845 3000168 and they will fill in the form with you over the phone.

Lines are open from 9am to 5pm and calls are charged at local rates. You can also write to them at Retirement Pension Forecasting Team, Room TB001, Tyneview Park, Whitley Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE98 1BA and ask for a forecast application and a return envelope to be sent to you.

New Civil service pensions and stakeholder plans

This material is drawn fron the Civil Service Pensions website. The complete reference can be found there.

"The Civil Service has introduced new pension arrangements for all employees. These new arrangements give you more flexibility, so that you can select one that's right for your circumstances.

Classic — The old PCSPS renamed. This is only available to those who joined the scheme before 1st October 2002. classic is a traditional occupational final salary scheme.

It pays a pension based on 1/80th of your final pensionable pay for each year of reckonable service, plus a tax free lump sum of three times your pension. You contribute 1.5% of your salary towards family benefits. * premium A new scheme, available to those joining before and after 1st October 2002.

Classic Plus — A combined approach, open only to those joining before 1st October 2002. o Service up to 30th September 2002 counts as classic (subject to some minor changes). o Service from 1st October 2002 counts as premium service.

Partnership — A new arrangement, available to those joining after 1st October 2002. The partnership pension account is a stakeholder pension, which is a type of personal pension.

Teachers' Pensions

Teachers' Pensions administers the scheme for teachers in England and Wales on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Their Web pages contain information to assist scheme members, or people dealing with the everyday responsibilities as an employer. Contact addresses and telephone numbers for Teachers' Pensions are available on various pages on the site.

General enquiries should be addressed to: Capita Teachers' Pensions Mowden Hall DARLINGTON DL3 9EET.

NHS pension schemes

The information below was drawn from the NHS pension scheme website, you can find more there.

"Most NHS workers are members of the pension scheme but few have any idea of when they can claim it and how much it is likely to pay them once their working lives are at an end.

Members pay a set amount of their wages in contributions each month; some pay 5% and some 6%.

This is because when it was set up, ‘blue collar’ NHS staff earned considerably less than ‘white collar’ employees and it was thought fairer that lower paid workers should not have to contribute as much.

Although those distinctions may have disappeared, the ruling remains in force. You can, if you choose, retire at 60 and apply for your pension or you can continue working until 65 and claim it then. The most number of year’s membership you can have in the scheme is 40. "