In thinking about your pension options, you should consider any retirement benefits that may be available to you
from the state.
There are two parts to the state pension:
- The Basic State Pension and
- The State Second Pension (S2P).
Basic State Pension
If you qualify for the Basic State Pension, the amount you receive will not be related to your earnings. It will depend on how many years you’ve paid National Insurance contributions.
State Second Pension (S2P)
The level of your State Second Pension (S2P) depends on your earnings. You may also be entitled to State Earnings Related Pension (SERPS) and to Graduated Pension. Both are paid on top of the Basic State Pension.
SERPS relates to earnings between 1978 and 2002. Graduated pension was only available to those in work between 1961 and 1975.
If you have ever been in a pension scheme that was contracted out of SERPS, graduated pension or S2P, then the scheme in question - not the state - will provide benefits in place of these state pension benefits for the period of contracted-out membership. The HBOS Group Money Purchase is not contracted out. Therefore, provided your National Insurance record is sufficient, your should receive a pension from the Scheme, your basic state pension and a pension from S2P.
You can contract out on a personal basis through an insurance company if you wish, but you should read the fact sheet below and consider taking financial advice.
You will start to receive the basic pension and S2P at the state pension age. This is currently 65 for men and 60 for women, but will gradually increase to 65 for women born after 5 April 1950 over a ten-year period from 2010 to 2020.
Getting a forecast of your future state pension benefits
You can get a forecast of your future state pension benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Please contact:
Retirement Pension Forecasting Team
The Pension Service
Room TB001
Tyneview Park
Whitley Road
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE98 1BA
Telephone: 0845 3000 168
Web-site: www.thepensionservice.gov.uk
NB HBOS cannot be held responsible for the content held in external web sites.
