Your retirement journey

Your pension for the calendar month is paid into a UK bank or building society on the 21st of each month by BACS. If the 21st of any month falls over a weekend or on a bank holiday, you’ll be paid on the working day prior.

It’ll be subject to tax, just like a regular income, and it’ll be paid for the rest of your life.

If you’re retiring overseas, you’ll still receive your USS pension. Visit our working or retiring overseas page for information about how payment dates may be affected.

The pension you receive from the Retirement Income Builder – the defined benefit (DB) part of USS – will be reviewed each April in line with our standard pension increases. Increases are linked to increases in official pensions paid to public sector employees (like teachers, civil servants or NHS employees).

For any USS benefits you earned before October 2011, we match the full increases.

For any USS benefits earned from 1 October 2011 we match the increases for the first 5% and pay 50% of any increase over 5%, up to a maximum annual increase of 10%*.

We’ll send you a Pension Increase letter each April to confirm any increases you might receive.

During any periods of deflation, or negative inflation, we won’t reduce the value of your pension, but it won’t increase.

*This cap doesn’t apply to added years AVCs under agreements dated prior to 1 October 2011.

My USS is our online portal for managing your membership. Here you can view your pension payslips and P60 (for 2019/20 onwards), and update your address details and beneficiaries.

If you still have savings in the Investment Builder – the defined contribution (DC) part of USS, you can view and manage these in My USS too. You can no longer make contributions if you’re no longer paying in to USS, but you can see where your savings are invested and manage your investment choices.

Make sure you keep your Target Retirement Age (TRA) up to date in My USS if you have Investment Builder savings. This lets us know when to move your investments in to lower risk funds, or when to contact you about your Investment Builder savings, depending on your investment choices.

If you die in retirement, your loved ones may still be eligible to the benefits that you’ve built up. And any savings you have left in the Investment Builder will also be paid to them.

To find out more, read about what loved ones and beneficiaries could receive.

It’s important to keep your beneficiaries and dependants up to date, to let us know who you’d like to receive your benefits when you die. Log in to My USS to complete an Expression of Wish form or a Registration of potential dependant form.

If you’ve taken your Retirement Income Builder benefits but left your Investment Builder savings invested to take at a later date, you have a few options.

You’re not limited to taking your savings in just one way. You can mix and match your options depending on your future plans.

Find out more about how you can access your Investment Builder savings, by attending our free Understanding DC (the Investment Builder) webinar. Register to join the session live and have the chance to ask questions, or listen to a pre-recorded version at your convenience.

Options include taking cash payments from your savings, known as UFPLS, as and when you need to (subject to certain limits). Or you could transfer your savings to another scheme that may also offer this and other options, such as flexi-access drawdown or the chance to buy an income for life, which is called an annuity. Our using your Investment Builder pot page also has more information.

Make sure you keep your Target Retirement Age (TRA) up to date in My USS. This lets us know when to move your investments into lower risk funds, or when to contact you about your Investment Builder savings, depending on your investment choices.

Log in or register for My USS to view and manage any savings in the Investment Builder.

Need a hand?

If you want to seek guidance or take independent financial advice on the options available to you, visit the guidance and financial advice page. You’ll find a range of resources to support your planning and you can also find information on how to access an independent financial adviser.

It’s really important that you keep your details up to date so we can always keep in touch.

You can make sure we have the right email address for you in My USS. We need a personal one so we can contact you about your membership.

While you’re logged in, you can also make sure your postal address is still correct.

To update any other details, you can complete a Notification of change in details form and return this to us.

If you have any questions relating to your USS pension, contact our Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043. Lines are open 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday.

If you have any questions about your tax code, contact HMRC directly on 0300 200 3300, quoting your National Insurance number and our PAYE reference 428/U168.