Many members of the scheme choose to work less than full-time for all or part of their career. The calculation of benefits for part-time members is slightly different.
Firstly, pensionable service is converted to its full-time equivalent, for example:
6 years at 50% part-time would equate to 3 years of pensionable service.
However, we also use the full-time equivalent pensionable salary to calculate your benefits. For example:
If your full-time salary would have been £40,000, you work 50% of normal hours and therefore your actual salary is £20,000, we would still use the £40,000 salary in the pensionable salary calculation.
So in the example above your pension would be:
3 years x 1/80 x £40,000, plus of course the standard tax-free cash amount of 3 times your pension
Things do become a bit more complicated when we consider added years AVCs, survivor benefits and ill-health benefits, particularly where we are projecting the total pensionable service you might have at retirement.
In terms of building up pension, when you work part-time you simply build up service more slowly than you would as a full-time member of the scheme.
Also remember that because of the way pensionable salary is calculated the fact that your actual pay has gone down your pensionable salary is still the full-time equivalent.
Take a look at our factsheet three - part-time employment for more details and also watch the Pensions TV video programme called ‘Joining USS’.
Variable-time employees
A variable-time employee is an employee who is paid on a basis that is not calculated either by reference to a fixed annual salary, or in such a way that it would be reasonably practicable to identify a fraction of part-time working.
Variable-time employees may or may not have a fixed term contract. Where any doubt arises about the variable time status of an individual (for the purposes of the scheme), USS has the power to decide whether or not a member is a variable-time employee.
How is this different to a part-time employee?
A part-time employee is a regular employee who does not work full-time and is paid wholly or in part by reference to a salary, which is a fraction of salary received by their colleagues in the same role with a full-time commitment. For example, an employee who has a contract stating the hours they work and their rate of pay, just like a full-time permanent employee, except the hours they work are not full-time.
Additionally, if you are a variable-time employee you are not normally automatically entered into the scheme, you have to apply, so please contact your employer for more information on how to apply.
Frankly, the calculation of benefits for variable time employees can be quite complex. Please refer to Factsheet twenty-one - employees in variable time employment for full information and some examples of the calculations.