Just like with a regular income, knowing when you’ll receive your pension payments along with breakdowns of what you’ll get will help you to manage your money.
You may also need to see your annual P60 to understand how much of your income is taxable in retirement.
Here’s how to find details about your payments from USS.
Once you’ve fully or flexibly retired, you’ll receive payments from the pension you’ve built up in the Retirement Income Builder. This is the defined benefit (DB) part of USS, which gives you a guaranteed income for life in retirement.
Your pension is paid into a UK bank or building society on the 21st of each month by BACS. If the 21st of any month falls during a weekend or on a bank holiday, you’ll be paid on the working day prior.
Your first pension payment would usually be paid on the 21st of the month following your retirement date. The date will be confirmed in your retirement settle letter from USS.
If you’re living overseas and no longer have a UK bank account or building society, your pension payment could take a little longer to arrive as it usually takes an additional few business days to credit your overseas bank account, depending on the country you live in. Find out more about retiring overseas.
You’ll receive a payslip outlining your first pension payment, and then one every April after that.
You’ll also receive a payslip if your net monthly pension amount changes by £1 or more. This may happen if there is a change to your gross pay, your tax code changes or if the tax bands are changed by HMRC.
You can find your payslips by logging in to My USS – our online portal for keeping your pension at your fingertips – and going to the My documents section. It takes just minutes to register for My USS and you’ll need your member number, which you’ll find at the top of any emails from us.
There, you’ll also be able to see your annual P60 if you’ve received a payment during the previous financial year. These documents can be downloaded and printed if you require paper copies.
You can only view your P60s from 2019/20 onwards in My USS.
It’s important to update us with changes to your personal details.
You can update your address in My USS. To alter your name or bank details though, you’ll need to complete a Notification of change in details form and post it to us.
If you’re changing your bank account, we recommend that you leave your existing account open until you receive written confirmation from us that we have amended our records.
Alternatively, you can update your bank details over the phone by calling our Pensions Payroll Team on 0151 556 0747. During the call, you’ll be asked to answer some security questions.
Even when you’re no longer paying in to USS, your Retirement Income Builder benefits continue to increase every April in line with USS standard pension increases.
If you have any savings in the Investment Builder – the defined contribution (DC) part of USS - you can decide how and when to access them.
They’ll remain invested until you decide to access all or part of your savings, and you can continue to manage your investment choices in My USS.
Understand your options for using your Investment Builder pot.
If you make regular donations to a UK registered charity, or plan to, you can choose to do this via USS.
You can opt to have charitable donations deducted from your monthly pension payments. You’ll only pay income tax on the amount of pension after the deduction.
USS works with the Charities Trust – an HMRC-approved non-profit making agency – to distribute donations to verified UK registered charities and good causes.
You’ll need to complete the Charities Trust form and post it to our Pensions Payroll team at the following address:
FAO Pensions Payroll
Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited
Royal Liver Building
Liverpool
L3 1PY
Alternatively, you can submit the form via make an enquiry in My USS. Charitable donations will then be processed for the next available pay run month, unless otherwise stated.
You’ll receive a letter to confirm when a deduction has been set up, and details of when it will commence.
If you’d like to change or stop any charitable donations you’re making via USS, you’ll need to send a signed request to the Pensions Payroll team by post. Any changes will need to be received by the end of the first week of the calendar month so they can be processed in time for that month’s payment.