I’m thinking about retiring soon

The most important points are:

• Contributions will continue to be processed for all members paying in to USS

• Pensions will continue to be paid throughout this period

• Benefits built up in the Retirement Income Builder are protected by law and by the strength of the employers of the higher education sector in the UK

• We’re actively monitoring the performance of our investments

• We’re fully operational and are prioritising key activity

Your contributions and Retirement Income Builder benefits are not expected to be impacted by COVID-19. If you have Investment Builder savings, you may see some fluctuations in your investment performance due to stock market volatility, but we are monitoring this.

Please see the Will my investments in the Investment Builder be impacted as a result of COVID-19? FAQ for more information.

You can usually change your mind about the retirement options you’ve chosen, as long as you give us enough notice. Find out more in our Investment Builder information article.

We have technology in place for our teams to deal with business-critical processes, so even if we have to close the office, we have processes in place to ensure we can both:

• Process the pension contributions we receive from employers on behalf of all members paying in to USS

• Pay pension payments to members

In line with government advice and because the wellbeing of our employees is a priority for us, wherever possible, our employees continue to work from home.

We have also introduced staggered work schedules, social distancing and additional safety and cleaning steps to protect those employees that do need to work from office locations.

The stock market fluctuations have impacted the funding level of the scheme, but this does not affect our ability to pay the pensions promised to members.

The stock market has been disrupted as a result of investors trying to price the potential impact of COVID-19 on the global economy. You will have seen an immediate impact on unit prices used to value your funds. We continue to monitor the funds.

We offer a range of funds in the Investment Builder, with the USS Lifestyle Options providing a lower risk profile as you approach your Target Retirement Age and therefore being less subject to market volatility. You can find fund information and further information on the Investment Builder, including how to view or change your Target Retirement Age in My USS.

If you are close to your Target Retirement Age, and your savings are invested in one of the Investment Builder Lifestyle Options, they will have been switched to more cautious funds to help protect them from the volatility of market fluctuations. The switching into more cautious funds does not remove the impact of market fluctuations, but it does help to reduce impact of any extreme market movements.

If you are about to retire and wish to take your Investment Builder funds as part of your retirement benefits, disinvestment of the funds will be fulfilled by our staff (working remotely if required). We have arrangements in place to ensure that contributions to the Investment Builder will continue to be invested with the same frequency as now.

If you want to consider seeking financial advice to see what’s best for you, you can use the Money Advice Service’s adviser directory to find a financial adviser (you may be charged a fee for any advice you receive).

You can make changes to your Investment Builder funds at any time in My USS. If you’re not sure about what’s best for you, we recommend that you speak to a financial adviser before making any decisions.

Information about our funds can be found in A guide to investing in the Investment Builder.

Yes, if you have pension savings elsewhere that you haven’t started taking and the scheme is registered with HMRC, you could transfer the pension benefits to the Investment Builder from most pension schemes.

For now, arrangements for transferring out of USS are unchanged. If you are considering transferring out your USS benefits to another arrangement, please visit the Pensions Advisory Service for free and impartial guidance.

This depends on your contractual and work situation:

• If you have a substantive contract with your USS employer and an honorary contract with an NHS trust, and you increase your hours under the latter, you’re likely to continue to be paid by your USS employer, so there’d be no change for you – you’d continue to build USS benefits.
• If you no longer have any NHS contract but are re-registered on the emergency COVID-19 Temporary Register, you could cease working for your USS employer entirely, take voluntary unpaid absence or be seconded from your USS employer.
• If you cease working for your USS employer (your employment contract terminates and they work directly for the NHS), you will become a deferred member of USS, and will be entitled to the appropriate leaver benefits.
• If you take voluntary absence or secondment, so there’s a firm intention to return to USS employment in the future, you can agree with your USS employer that your USS contributions will continue. In this instance, there’s no change to your USS membership of entitlements.

However, if you and your employer don’t agree that contributions continue, you’ll stop building up USS benefits until you return to your USS Employment. However, in this instance, we will continue to give you the same life and ill health cover that you get as a USS member. This position will be kept under review.

If you don’t re-join USS after you’ve finished working for the NHS, you’ll be treated as having left the scheme at the date that contributions ceased.

Once you’ve agreed it with your employer, we’ll treat you in the same way we would if you were still in work, so your contributions will continue to be paid, pension and lump sum benefits will continue to build up, and life and ill health cover will continue:

• Contributions from your employer will continue, and will be based on your normal pay prior to absence.

• Your contributions will be based on your actual pay during the Emergency Volunteering Leave period (which may be £0).

• Benefits and life and ill health cover will be based on your normal pay prior to Emergency Volunteering Leave.

At the moment, there’s no legislation in place in respect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, so our current position is based on Treasury directions and HMRC guidance.

If you’re placed on furlough, you continue to be contractually employed by your USS employer throughout the furlough period. Whilst on furlough the pension contributions you and your employer pay should continue at the normal USS contribution rates but based on your actual pay (80% of your pre-furlough salary up to a cap of £2,500 per month, if that is what the employer is paying you, employers are able to choose to top up employee wages at their own expense if they wish).

The pension and lump sum benefits that you build up will continue, as will life and ill health cover, with each also being based on your actual pay (80% of your pre-furlough salary capped at £2,500 per month, if that is what the employer is paying you).

Flexible furloughing is also allowed which means that you will be able to work some of your usual hours (and be paid for this by your employer) and receive furlough pay for your unworked hours.

At the time of writing this, the Job Retention Scheme is due to close in March 2021.

Generally, the answer to this is yes, as long as you:

• are working under an honorary NHS contract but continue to hold, and be paid through, a substantive USS employer contract;
• have taken voluntary absence from your USS role in order to support the NHS, but you intend to return to your USS role afterwards; or
• have taken Emergency Volunteering Leave to work for the NHS.

If you’re not sure whether any of the above apply to you, speak to the USS pensions contact at your workplace.

This depends on the circumstances of your employment. We have a factsheet that covers this on our absence from work page.

This only covers situations where you’re absent from work, and not continuing in work and seeking to voluntarily stop paying USS contributions.

If you are continuing in work (including where you’ve been furloughed) and you want to stop paying contributions, you can opt out of USS. However, if you do this, you’ll stop building up benefits and lose your life and ill health cover.

If you subsequently re-join USS (or are re-enrolled under auto-enrolment), the benefits from the new period of service would simply be added to those from the previous period, provided they had not been transferred out of USS.

Alternatively, you can stop building up pension benefits but pay contributions to continue life and ill health cover through the Enhanced Opt Out option, but this has a number of restrictions. See our Enhanced Opt Out page for more information.

USS provides valuable benefits to your family or other dependants, if you die whilst paying into the scheme. We could also provide benefits, if you have to stop working because of ill health or incapacity.

While you’re paying into USS, you get life cover of three times your salary as a lump sum payment and you tell us who you’d like to receive it. All you have to do is complete an Expression of Wish form to nominate who should receive the money if you die whilst paying into the scheme.

The money is also paid tax free, as it doesn’t form part of your estate for inheritance tax purposes. So those you nominate, your beneficiaries, won’t have any unexpected tax charges.

As well as a lump sum payment there’s more that could be paid to your dependents should you die – a pension will also be payable to your spouse or civil partner for life as well as an income for any eligible children too. If you want to register a dependant, simply complete and return the Registration of Potential Dependant form.

You should review your Expression of Wish and Registration of potential dependant forms at least every three years, to make sure they’re up to date.

Log in to My USS to complete these online or download the Expression of Wish form and Registration of potential dependant form to print and return to us.

You can find out more about life cover and ill health retirement in our dedicated pages. At the moment, due to social distancing advice, you don’t need someone to witness your signature on your forms, but we may contact you in the future to arrange for this.