Thinking of leaving

Contact your employer, in the first instance, for information about redundancy and your pension because different rules can apply.

When it comes to taking your Retirement Income Builder Benefits the earliest you can do this is age 55 (or earlier if you have a Protected Pension Age). If you take your benefits early, they may be reduced as they would need to be paid for longer. Find out more about how we calculate your pension benefits before and after Normal Pension Age on our factors page.

In some cases, you may be able to take all or part of your pension unreduced from age 60 but you’ll need to check this with your employer.

If your new job is in a workplace that doesn’t offer a USS pension, you’ll stop building your pension with us. See next steps if you’re leaving below for more information.

In some cases (like a secondment), you may be able to carry on building your USS pension. Please speak to your employer for more information.

If you’re just moving from one USS employer to another, you’ll carry on being a member. See changes to your job for more information.

If you’re moving overseas permanently or on secondment that isn’t eligible for a USS pension, you’ll stop building your pension with us.

There are a few things to think about if you’re moving overseas – take a look at working or retiring overseas.

You may need to stop working because of a long-term sickness. It’s not a nice thought, but unfortunately it can happen. If it happens to you, as long as you’ve been building your USS pension for at least two years, we’ve got you covered:

• You may be able to take your benefits early
• If you’re still paying in and, meet our eligibility criteria, you could get an enhanced incapacity pension (what you’ve built up already, plus what you would have built up if you’d carried on working until age 65.

Find out more in ill health retirement.

There may not be one particular reason why you’re thinking of leaving.

If that’s the case for you, remember you’re not just building a pension. You could also be covered if you have to stop working because of ill health. And with life cover, you have peace of mind knowing your loved ones will be taken care of when you die.

If you’re still paying in, you could get an enhanced incapacity pension (what you’ve built up already, plus what you would have built up if you’d carried on working until the Normal Pension Age). But once you leave, if you have to retire because of ill health, you’ll only get the pension you’ve built up (without any enhancements). You’ll only get this if you can’t work at all (not if you can do another role).

Also, if you die once you’ve already left, the pension that your spouse or child would be entitled to won’t be enhanced. And their lump sum will be based on three times the pension you’ve built up, rather than three times your salary.

And remember, it’s not just your own contributions that’ll stop, you’ll miss out on contributions from your employer too. So it’s important to think carefully before making a decision.

To see what else you could be missing out on, take a look at what you pay and what you’ll get.

If you’re ready for retirement, visit a timeline to retirement for leavers to find out how the process works and how long it takes.