Do I lose all my contribution to the UK pension?
Posted by seewhyme@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 24 comments
Canadian here. If I work for NHS England for 6 years in total and then return to my home country, do I lose all my pension contribution? Someone told me I won't get a pension unless I work in the UK for at least 10 years. How does the system work for a NHS employee? Thank you.
Mop_Jockey@reddit
You need 10 years of national insurance contributions for a UK state pension.
I have no idea about your NHS pension.
seewhyme@reddit (OP)
Do I get absolutely nothing back for my NI contribution if I left after 6 years?
TheZZ9@reddit
You can pay voluntary NI payments for 'missing' years, but you'd have to look at what that would cost and what pension you'd get to see if it is worthwhile.
Also, the state pension has the triple lock here meaning it rises every year but if you move abroad some countries, including Canada, do not get any raises. If you got £50 a week when you left it would stay at £50 forever while UK residents would get an increase every year.
waggles1968@reddit
It stays at the same amount when you first claim it not when you leave.
TheZZ9@reddit
My mistake. Still pretty poor for anyone who retired to Canada....
BoopingBurrito@reddit
NI is just another form of income tax, branded in a way that makes it sound more appealing. It's not insurance premiums, and it's not finds being invested for your pension. It's a tax that goes into day to day expenditure for the government.
Mop_Jockey@reddit
My understanding is you'd get nothing even if you stayed and had contributed less than 10 years. But that is just for state pension. Not private ones.
nothingtoseehere____@reddit
There's the "state pension (which requires 10 year NI to qualify IIRC) which they were talking about, and there's your separate NHS pension, which you will get wherever you are once you turn the qualifying age with 6 years contributions.
First-Lengthiness-16@reddit
Do they take.money from a paycheck for this pension? If so, do they just keep the money if you worked less than 6 years?
nothingtoseehere____@reddit
National Insurance is a tax. It's not a separate pool of money kept somewhere, it's just a tax you pay the UK government. If you pay it long enough, you become eligible for certain benefits, which are unrelated to how much or little you have paid in tax over the minimum.
FidelityBob@reddit
"National Insurance is a tax. It's not a separate pool" Not true. there is a separate pool of money from NI - The National Insurance Fund.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Insurance_Fund
First-Lengthiness-16@reddit
Sorry I was talking about the NHS pension, not NI contributions.
Turbo_Tom@reddit
The NHS pension is a defined benefit scheme. In other words, your contributions have entitled you to certain benefits when you reach a certain age. You can cash it in subject to pension regulations and the rules of the scheme. After you're 55 you can get up to 25% of the value tax free, but the rest would be liable to UK income tax.
nothingtoseehere____@reddit
In this case, yes - you will have opted in to it on joining and you'll see it as a deduction on your payslip every month. If you leave after a short period of time (for other schemes it's two years, dunno for NHS) then you'll get the money refunded. After that, you'll be a member of the scheme and therefore will get the benefits on retirement, no matter where you live or work at the time.
SomeHSomeE@reddit
No they just said 6 years as that's hiw long OP said they'd work there.
cgknight1@reddit
Even if you only worked for a year - it's still yours.
CycIizine@reddit
You need to have a minimum of two years' membership to stay in the NHS scheme. If you have less than that, your contributions (less tax) will be refunded.
SingerFirm1090@reddit
I think you are confusing your State Pension ( a minimum contribution is required to get it) and your NHS Pension. Your HR department should be able to help, and I admit it's a few years since I worked for the NHS, but I think you might get your (employee) contributions refunded by the NHS.
JavaRuby2000@reddit
The UK has a reciprocal agreement with Canada when it comes to benefit payments.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reciprocal-agreements/reciprocal-agreements
I don't know how Canadas state pension works but, your 6 years of UK NI payments should count towards whatever taxes you'd have paid towards your Canadian state pension.
seewhyme@reddit (OP)
Good to know! I guess the Canadian equivalent is the CPP.
Urban-Amazon@reddit
Your NHS pension is an employer pension and separate to your state pension - as such they are governed by different rules.
All UK employers are obliged to enrol you in an employer pension, so unless you actively choose to opt out, there will be a specific deduction from your salary highlighting this.
Provided you complete a minimum two years qualifying service (this is usually calendar years, but there are exceptions) you will be entitled to a pension at the end of your employment. These are held in trust (preserved) until you reach scheme retirement age - these vary, but most fall roughly in line with state pension age these days. These can be taken early, but there is a significant - and permanent - reduction applied to do so.
If you end up doing less than two years in total then the amount is usually either refunded to you, minus employer contributions, or can be transferred to another scheme if you are contributing to one that qualifies.
Whilst in the scheme, the administrator should provide you with an annual statement of the value of your pension to give you an idea of what you will be eligible for on retirement.
You may want to look at https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-pensions as they will have more information specific to your situation on there.
ProfessorYaffle1@reddit
10 years is about the State Pension. However, there are some reciprocal arrangements which mean that you can be given credit in your home country for contributions made here - you'd need to check to see whether this applies with Canada, and what you need to do to get your records updated if it does.
For the NHS pension, I think you will still get a small pension, I believe also there are some situations where it's possible to withdraw the funds early if the pension is very small, but I am not sure what the limit is and whether it applies to public sector pensions like the NHS or only to private pensions.
cgknight1@reddit
No your NHS pension is yours:
https://www.bma.org.uk/pay-and-contracts/pensions/additional-pensions-advice/transferring-money-out-of-the-nhs-pension-scheme
Some people are giving you answers about the state pension.
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