Leaving or already left

If you’ve been paying into your USS pension for less than two years, you may be able to get a refund of your contributions. Whether you are eligible for a refund will depend on various things like how long you’ve been paying in and if you contributed via salary sacrifice.

If you begin the process to leave, you will receive a leaver statement which would include details on how much you could be refunded. This could take up to a few months after your final contribution payment to USS.

Take a look at getting a refund.

Once you leave USS, you’ll stop building your pension with us. You can find more details by visiting the leavers’ hub or registering for one of our leaver webinars. You can check the value of your pension at any time after you leave in My USS and use the Benefit Calculator to keep on top of your estimated retirement benefits.

You can find the value of your benefits at your date of leaving in My USS or on your leaver statement. You can also use the Benefit Calculator in My USS to estimate the value of your benefits when you retire.

You can call us at 0333 300 1043 to speak to someone who can help.

Yes – you can still do this in My USS. But you can’t make any more additional contributions.

It’s important to update your email address in My USS when you leave, so we can keep you up to date when it’s time to take your benefits and any savings you have. For any other updates, complete and return the Notification of change in details form.

Don’t miss out – you can choose to receive our handy member news and updates. These can help with financial wellbeing and general lifestyle plans, so you can make decisions now and in the future. You can do this in My USS by visiting the communication preferences page.

Please complete the Registration of potential dependant form in My USS. We recommend that you update this at least every three years so we know it’s up to date, even if your wishes haven’t changed.

For more information, take a look at what happens when you die.

Please complete the Expression of Wish form in My USS. We recommend that you update this at least every three years so we know it’s up to date, even if your wishes haven’t changed.

For more information, take a look at what happens when you die.

If you’re moving overseas, you can ask your new pension scheme whether you can transfer your USS pension over to them. You may wish to seek financial advice and guidance before transferring your pension overseas.

We won’t transfer to an overseas scheme unless it’s a Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (ROPS). So we’ll check this before completing the transfer. You can also check this for yourself using the Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes notification list.

You can request the cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) by completing the Transfer out request form.

Find more information about the transfer out request form by visiting transferring to another scheme.

This may be if you’ve left within two years of joining USS. Your Annual Member Statement assumes that you’ll be with us for at least two years and shows your benefits on your earnings to reflect this.