Browse key topics for answers to your queries
There are two main different types of workplace pension – a defined benefit pension (like the Retirement Income Builder), which guarantees you an income for life once you retire, and a defined contribution pension (like the Investment Builder), where contributions are invested into your own savings pot. USS has both, making us a hybrid pension scheme.
To find out more visit a pensions overview. Or for more on how USS works, visit your pension explained.
Contributions are paid by active members and their employers. You will pay in 6.1% of your salary each month and you get tax relief on your contributions, so some of the money that you normally pay towards tax goes into your pension instead.
Your employer pays in 14.5% of your salary each month towards your benefits and running USS. You can also pay additional contributions to the investment builder to save more. Visit what you’ll pay, for more information on what the contribution rate is.
Visit what you pay and what you'll get, for more information on what the contribution rate is.
If you have pension savings elsewhere that you haven’t started taking yet and your previous scheme is registered with HMRC, you could transfer them to USS.
The funds you transfer will go into your Investment Builder pot, which is the defined contribution (DC) part of USS. Visit transferring in to USS for more information.
Your member number will be on any emails you receive from us, your welcome letter and your Annual Member Statement. Please note that you typically won’t receive your first Annual Member Statement until the Autumn after you join. But it could be longer.
If you’ve not received either of these yet, you can get in touch with our Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043. Lines are open 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Your previous employer will send us a leaver notification and, if you’re eligible for a USS pension in your new role, your new employer will send a joiner notification. You’ll then be able to continue building your pension.
Depending on when your employers submit their notifications, you may not start paying in until the month after your new role starts.
If you want to continue making additional contributions, you’ll need to set these up again in My USS. More information can be found in your welcome letter, which you can download in My USS.
If your employer offers salary sacrifice, you can agree to give up the part of your salary that you would pay towards your pension, and your employer will pay your contributions for you. Then, you (and your employer) could pay lower National Insurance contributions.
However, there are reasons why this may not be right for you. For example, if you’re with USS for less than two years, and you use salary sacrifice, you’ll still be able to choose to keep pension benefits in USS or transfer them to another scheme, but you won’t have the option to get a refund of contributions when you leave. It may also affect the amount you’re eligible to borrow, if you’re looking for a mortgage or other finance. You should speak to your employer for more details.
You can re-join USS at any time – speak to your employer first. They'll then send a joiner notification to us. You’ll then be able to continue saving for your future.
If you’re working for a USS employer on a fixed-term contract, you can still join USS to save for your future. If you’re eligible, your employer will auto enrol you unless you tell them otherwise.
You can join for the duration of your contract and still build up benefits. Your employer will also contribute towards your benefits.
See what your pension might look like for more information and have a look at what you pay and what you’ll get to see a full list of benefits.
Even if you’re only here for a short while, it’s still important to save for your future to make sure you achieve the future lifestyle you want.
You’ll build up more than just a pension too – have a look at what you’ll get as a member to see a full list of benefits.
A pension is an easy way to save for your future. You may receive the State Pension when you retire, but it might not be enough. Putting money away now means you’ll have a bigger income in the future. Plus, your employer contributes too – making up a big chunk of your pension.
However, if you paid in for less than two years by the time you leave, you should consider the following:
When your fixed-term contract is renewed, or when moving between USS employers, the benefits you build up in your new role will be automatically added to the ones you’ve already built up.
However, if you made additional contributions to the Investment Builder in your previous role, you’ll need to set these up again in My USS.
If you were paying Final Salary or Career Revalued Benefit additional contributions, you'll need to let your new employer know. If the gap between your previous role and your new one is more than a month, you won’t be able to continue these Final Salary or Career Revalued Benefit additional contributions.
If you’re in the UK for a fixed-term contract, you can still build up benefits with us. Even if you’re only here for a short while, it’s just as important to save for your future to make sure you achieve the future lifestyle you want. You’ll build up more than just a pension too – such as life cover should the worst happen. Have a look at what you’ll get as a member to see a full list of benefits.
If your contract with your USS employer ends, you won’t lose the benefits you’ve built up in the Retirement Income Builder (defined benefit). These will remain secure until you’re ready to take them. Any Investment Builder (defined contribution) savings will remain invested until you're ready to take them (which you can do from age 55 onwards, rising to age 57 for certain members in 2028). The amount in your pot when you come to take these savings will generally depend on the performance of your investments.
If you want to take your savings with you, you may be able to transfer your benefits and/or savings to another overseas pension scheme.
And even if you’re thinking of retiring to the other side of the world, we’ll still be able to pay your pension to you.
Take a look at our Working or retiring overseas factsheet for more information.
If you’re working for a USS employer and are eligible to join USS, you can join until the day before your 75th birthday.
Visit what you pay and what you’ll get to see a list of USS benefits.
How much we refund you will depend on various things like how long you’ve been paying in and if you contributed via salary sacrifice. Even if you don’t get a refund, you can still take your pension at retirement or you may be able to transfer your pension elsewhere.
For more details on when a refund will and won’t be possible, take a look at getting a refund.
Once you leave USS you’ll stop building your pension with us. Watch our short video on What happens when you leave USS?, to find out what your options are and how to keep your details up to date if you leave.
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.
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.
Log in to My USS to complete the Registration of potential dependant form online or download the Registration of potential dependant form to print and return to us. 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.
Log in to My USS to complete the Expression of Wish form online or download the Expression of Wish form to print and return to us. 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 scheme whether you can transfer your USS pension over to them.
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.
If your new scheme doesn’t meet certain conditions, you may be charged an Overseas Transfer Charge (OTC). It’s a 25% tax charge taken from your transfer. The OTC is 25% of the transferred value. Even if you don’t need to pay this right away, you may need to pay it later if circumstances change within five years.
For more information on moving overseas, see our Working or retiring overseas factsheet.
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.
You’ll need to speak with your employer first and agree your retirement date. They’ll then submit a retirement form to us on your behalf.
Take a look at our retirement timeline for what you need to do and when.
You can also watch our planning for retirement video for four easy steps to help you plan for your future.
We’re happy to help you fill in your form.
Watch our short video on your retirement options on our understanding your options pages, where you can also find more information.
If you no longer have a UK bank account, Citibank offers a service where your pension can be paid directly to an overseas bank account. Please note other banks may operate a similar service and you should make your own enquiries regarding this possibility.
If your payment is made via the Citibank service, the bank details displayed on your monthly payslip will reference Citibank’s bank account and not your overseas bank account.
Pension payments are credited to UK accounts on the 21st of the month, or the Friday immediately prior if this date falls on a weekend or bank holiday. Your payment will take an additional few business days to credit your overseas bank account, depending on the country you live in.
Find out more on our working or retiring overseas page or our factsheet.
Retiring flexibly allows you to take up to 80% of your pension whilst continuing to work, as long as you drop your hours and salary by at least 20%. Each time you take part of your pension, it’s known as a flex. It means you can ease yourself into retirement – and still carry on building for the future.
Visit your options at different ages and stages for more information.
The earliest you can start taking your benefits and savings is age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028), unless you’re retiring due to ill health.
Visit your options at different ages and stages for more information.
If you’re still paying in to USS, you must take your benefits by age 75.
But if you’re no longer paying in to USS, you need to take your benefits at the Normal Pension Age.
Once you let us know that you want to retire, we’ll ask you for your UK bank or building society details. Your monthly income will then be paid on the 21st of each month.
Your lump sum can also be paid into a UK bank or building society.
If you want your monthly income and/or lump sum paid to a non-UK bank account, take a look at working or retiring overseas to find out what you need to do.
Take a look at our retirement timeline for more on how long the process takes and what you need to do.
You won’t be classed as retired if you intend to start another role in which you can build a USS pension (with either your current or a new employer). But if you’re retired and then offered another role, your employer may need to automatically enrol you into a pension scheme. You’ll need to speak to your employer about whether you can re-join USS.
Please note there are certain factors which will affect your pension if you retired due to ill health, but then start working again. Take a look at ill health retirement to find out more.
You can update your address in My USS. Or you can complete and return the Notification of change in details form for any other updates.
To update your name, we must see documentary evidence confirming the change, such as a certified copy of your Change of Name Deed. If you’re changing your bank details, we recommend that you leave your existing bank account open until we confirm that we’ve amended our records.
Your pension is taxed when you receive it, just like a regular income, using your tax code provided by HMRC.
You can take cash payments from us as and when you need to, this is known as UFPLS.
Find out more in our Taking cash from your Investment Builder pot (UFPLS) factsheet.
Or you could transfer your savings to another scheme that may also offer UFPLS and other options too, such as flexi-access drawdown or to buy an income for life (which is called an annuity). Find out more about this on our using your Investment Builder pot page.
If you’re flexibly retired and are now looking to take more of your benefits, contact your employer. You’ll need to agree with them whether you’ll now fully retire or take another flex.
If you no longer have a UK bank account, Citibank offers a service where your pension can be paid directly to an overseas bank account. Please note other banks may operate a similar service and you should make your own enquiries regarding this possibility.
If your payment is made via the Citibank service, the bank details displayed on your monthly payslip will reference Citibank’s bank account and not your overseas bank account.
Pension payments are credited to UK accounts on the 21st of the month, or the Friday immediately prior if this date falls on a weekend or bank holiday. Your payment will take an additional few business days to credit your overseas bank account, depending on the country you live in.
Find out more on our working or retiring overseas page or our factsheet.
In most cases, you won’t need to pay UK income tax if you’re a resident for tax purposes overseas. But you may need to pay income tax on your pension in the country you’ve moved to. If you live in a country with a double taxation agreement (DTA) with the UK, you’ll pay tax in both countries unless you apply for UK tax relief. You can find a full list of all countries with a DTA by searching ‘double taxation agreements’ on gov.uk.
You won’t be classed as retired if you intend to start another role in which you can build a USS pension (with either your current or a new employer). But if you’re retired and then offered another role, your employer may need to automatically enrol you into a pension scheme. You’ll need to speak to your employer about whether you can re-join USS.
Please note there are certain factors which will affect your pension if you retired due to ill health, but then start working again. Take a look at ill health retirement to find out more.
We aim to send this to you by 31 May each tax year. It will show the full amount of taxable pension we’ve paid to you and the income tax you’ve paid in the relevant tax year. You’ll also be able to see these figures for 2019/20 onwards in My USS.
It’s important that you keep this safe as you may need it in the future.
This may have changed if there has been a change to your gross pay, if we’ve received a new tax code for you from HMRC, or if the tax bands have been changed by HMRC. If it’s a new tax code, you should have been told about this by HMRC too.
If you have any questions about your new tax code, contact HMRC on 0300 200 3300, quoting your National Insurance number and our PAYE reference 428/U168.
All payslips are available to view in My USS and can be downloaded and printed from there. If you haven’t already registered, you can do so and manage your membership and communication preferences in My USS.
It’ll be reviewed every April in line with our standard pension increases.
See more in i’m retired.
Your P60 and payslip are available in My USS, our online portal for managing your membership. To view and download them, register or log in to My USS and head to the 'My documents' section.
If you haven’t yet registered for My USS, you'll need your member number – you can find this at the top of any recent emails from us, your personal email address, and your National Insurance number.
You can reset your password or PIN – just visit the My USS log in page and select ‘Forgotten details?’. You’ll then be able to reset these. If you’ve forgotten the email address you used to register with, you’ll need to contact our Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043 and press 1. Lines are open 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday.
You can download and print your P60 and payslip directly from My USS. Register or log in to My USS and head to the 'My documents' section. You can then click on the P60 and payslip you would like to download and print.
If your P60 isn’t available in My USS, it may be that you haven’t received a payment in the previous financial year. If you think your P60 should be on My USS, contact our Member Service Team on 0333 300 10437.
Please note: You can only view your P60s from 2019/20 onwards.
You can download and print your P60 and payslip directly from My USS. Register or log in to My USS and head to the 'My documents' section. You can then click on the P60 you would like to download and print.
If you’d prefer to receive information by post in the future, that’s fine – you can opt out of digital communications by logging in to My USS and reviewing your communications preferences.
It’s up to you. You could take everything, nothing, or just a bit from your Investment Builder pot when you retire flexibly or fully. And if you retire flexibly, you can carry on contributing to your pot until you retire fully.
If you’d like, you can use your pot to increase your benefits from the Retirement Income Builder or take more tax-free cash (up to a limit).
For more information about what you can do with your Prudential savings too, see Using your Investment Builder pot.
If you’re no longer paying in to USS but remain in eligible employment, you can take flexible retirement. Visit your options at different ages and stages for more information.
We’ll pay a combination of benefits to your beneficiaries as if you’d died while paying in to USS and if you’d died after you’d retired, up to a maximum limit.
Read our factsheet about what happens if you die whilst paying in to USS to see how any benefits and savings you’re still building could be affected.
You can also read the What happens to my savings and benefits if I die after I’ve retired? factsheet for information about the proportion of your pension you’re receiving.
The total benefits we pay won’t exceed the value of benefits you would have received if you’ve died while you’d been building your pension before the date of your first flex.
If you have any questions about what happens to your benefits when you die if you’ve taken flexible retirement, call our Bereavement Team on 0151 556 0620 or email bereavements@uss.co.uk.
When you started paying added years AVCs, you would have agreed to pay a certain percentage of your full salary. But if you choose flexible retirement, you won’t be paying this percentage as you’ll need to reduce your salary/hours. So you’ll only get a proportion of the original amount you’d agreed to buy.
You’ll continue to contribute the agreed amount to buy your additional pension.
As you'll earn less after flexibly retiring, you may want to consider if this is still right for you.
When you flex, if you want to use your Prudential funds as part of your USS retirement, you have to take 100% of your funds or take them all in the future. You can’t draw just part of your fund.
You can take up to 25% of the value of your benefits as tax-free cash (subject to HMRC limits) each time you flex. But if you don’t take your Prudential funds during your first flex, the amount of your Prudential funds you can take as tax-free cash on your next flex or when you retire fully may be impacted.
If you choose to convert your funds to secure extra USS benefits when you retire, you’ll lose any enhanced protection you have.
If you want to seek guidance or take financial advice on the options available to you, visit the guidance and financial advice page. You’ll find a range of resources to support your planning and you can also find information on how to access an independent financial adviser.
For more information about what you can do with your Prudential funds, see Using your Investment Builder pot.
Yes, flexibly retired members can fully commute the unused portion of their benefits as a full commutation lump sum. For more information, see our Serious ill heath lump sum factsheet.
Yes - you can make changes to your investments in My USS.
Visit choosing your investments to watch our short video on your investment choices. You can also read A guide to investing in the Investment Builder for more information.
Yes – if you have Investment Builder savings, it’s important that you set a TRA to reflect your future retirement goals. If you don’t set a TRA it’ll automatically be set as the Normal Pension Age (NPA) when you join the Investment Builder.
Setting a TRA allows us to automatically move any investments you have in the Investment Builder to lower risk funds as you get closer to retirement – we do this for members in the USS Default Lifestyle Option and the USS Ethical Lifestyle Option (the Do It For Me Options). If you’ve chosen to invest in our self-select funds (the Let Me Do It Option), you’re responsible for reviewing and managing your own investments, but we’ll remind you of your options around six months before your TRA.
To set or change your TRA, simply log in to or register for My USS.
Watch our Target Retirement Age video and find out why it’s important to keep this up to date.
If you want us to manage your investments for you, you can choose the USS Ethical Lifestyle Option – one of the Do It For Me Options. This option invests in funds that meet our ethical investment guidelines.
If you’d prefer to manage your investments yourself, you can choose to invest in our self-select funds (the Let Me Do It Option). There are funds available that avoid certain investments on ethical grounds.
Our Fund Factsheets, available in My USS, or A guide to investing in the Investment Builder can provide more information.
Visit where we invest for information on the different markets we invest in.
Visit our Responsible Investment page for more information on the actions we take as part of our Responsible Investment strategy.
Visit our Investment Builder page to watch our short video on your investment choices. You can also read A guide to investing in the Investment Builder for more information.
Fund Factsheets are also available in My USS.
If you have pension savings elsewhere that you haven’t started taking yet and your previous scheme is registered with HMRC, you could transfer them to the Investment Builder.
The pension savings you transfer will go into your Investment Builder pot. Visit transferring in to USS for more information.
To start the process just log in to My USS and complete the Transfer in request form.
Take a look at our transfer in timeline for more on what happens when, and what you need to do.
You just need to complete and return the Transfer out option form. Once we receive the form, we’ll aim to send you all the information you need within three weeks.
Remember that what you can transfer out depends on whether you’re still paying in to USS, you’ve already stopped, or you’re retired.
Visit transferring to another scheme for more information.
Transfers in to USS from a Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (ROPS) may be possible. You should check with your previous overseas pension scheme whether a transfer value can be paid to a UK scheme.
You can check whether your previous pension scheme is a ROPS using the Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes notification list.
For information on transfers in visit transferring in to USS.
For any transfers in to USS made before 1 October 2016, these will be included in the total value of your Retirement Income Builder benefits shown in your Annual Member Statement and in My USS.
For any transfers made after 30 September 2016, these will have gone in to the Investment Builder, the defined contribution (DC) part of USS. Any transfers made in the last 12 months to the end of March will be shown in your Annual Member Statement. The rest will be included in the total value of your Investment Builder pot. A breakdown on your transfers can be found in My USS.
If you’re moving overseas, you can ask your new scheme whether you can transfer your USS pension over to them.
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.
If your new scheme doesn’t meet certain conditions, you may be charged an Overseas Transfer Charge (OTC). It’s a 25% tax charge taken from your transfer. The OTC is 25% of the transferred value. Even if you don’t need to pay this right away, you may need to pay it later if circumstances change within five years.
For more information on moving overseas, see our Working or retiring overseas factsheet.
We don’t charge to transfer other pension savings in to USS. But there are investment management fees that you should be aware of for pension savings transferred in to your Investment Builder pot.
Read A guide to investing in the Investment Builder for more information on the fees and transaction costs.
We don’t charge you to transfer your benefits and savings out of USS. But other schemes may have charges, admin costs or investment fees, so it’s important to do your research and compare these charges so you’re in the know.
You can find out more about our investment fees for the Investment Builder in our investment guide.
If you’re transferring safeguarded benefits (like defined benefits) from another scheme to the Investment Builder (check with your current scheme if you’re unsure), and all those benefits are valued at more than £30,000, the law requires you to obtain appropriate independent advice. Even if you’re not transferring quite that much, or are transferring defined contribution savings, you may just want some advice to support you in deciding what option is best for you.
For more on financial advice, visit guidance and financial advice.
You can find any lost pension savings with the Governments Pension Tracing Service.
Head over to the HMRC website where you’ll be able to find more information on how to do this.
Your pension is taxed during payment just like a regular income using your tax code provided by HMRC.
If you think that you may be affected by the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) or Annual Allowance (AA) whilst you’re paying in to USS, you could choose one of the following options to help you manage your tax charges:
In most cases, you won’t need to pay UK income tax if you’re a resident for tax purposes overseas. But you may need to pay income tax on your pension in the country you’ve moved to. If you live in a country with a double taxation agreement (DTA) with the UK, you’ll pay tax in both countries unless you apply for UK tax relief. You can find a full list of all countries with a DTA by searching ‘double taxation agreements’ on gov.uk.
Your tax code will affect how much tax you pay. HMRC will contact us directly if this needs to change.
If you have any questions about your tax code, please contact HMRC directly on 0300 200 3300 (or 0044 135 535 9022 from overseas). You’ll need to quote our tax office reference, which is 428/U168, and you’ll need your National Insurance number handy.
The Annual Allowance (AA) is the maximum amount of pension savings you can build up each year before you may incur a tax charge.
The standard Annual Allowance (AA) is £60,000 per tax year. If you’re a high earner, you’re likely to have a Tapered AA.
Or if you start taking your Investment Builder savings, or any other defined contribution savings, you may be subject to the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA). This limits how much you can pay into a defined contribution arrangement before you need to pay tax. The limit is £10,000 per year.
You’ll find details of your AA on your Annual Member Statement. If you’ve gone over the standard AA, you’ll also be able to see how much AA you’ve used over the last three years. So you’ll know whether you have any unused AA to carry forward to cover your tax charge.
You can also use our Contributions & Tax Calculator to work out the estimated AA used up by your USS benefits over the 2023/24 tax year.
This is any Annual Allowance (AA) you have left over from the previous three tax years that can be used if you’ve gone over the current year’s AA.
Visit your unused Annual Allowance for more information.
We’re unable to calculate any carry forward for you – you can use your Annual Member Statement to do this.
The benefits you build up in the tax year you left USS will count towards the AA for that year. Any benefits you built up in USS in previous years won’t count.
You’ll need to let HMRC know on your self-assessment tax return. You can find more information about paying your AA tax charge on the HMRC website.
You may be able to use your pension savings to cover the charge with Scheme Pays.
If you have enough unused AA to carry forward from the previous three tax years to cover the charge, you don’t need to complete a self-assessment tax return. Just keep a detailed record in case HMRC ask for more information in the future.
You may also wish to get some tax advice from a tax adviser.
If you want to seek guidance or take financial advice on the options available to you, visit the guidance and financial advice page. You’ll find a range of resources to support your planning and you can also find information on how to access an independent financial adviser.
You may be able to manage your Annual Allowance tax charge by using the Voluntary Salary Cap (VSC).
You may also be able to use your pension savings to cover the charge with Scheme Pays.
No, you can’t carry forward any unused MPAA from previous years. Find out more about the MPAA.
A Tapered Annual Allowance (AA) is lower than the standard AA and applies to those on a higher income.
Find more on our Tapered Annual Allowance page.
Tapering only applies if you have both a threshold income over £200,000 and an adjusted income over £260,000.
Visit a Tapered Annual Allowance for more information.
This is your taxable income, plus the Annual Allowance amount you have used in the tax year, less your pension contributions. If this is £260,000 or more then you may have a Tapered Annual Allowance.
Head over to the HMRC website where you’ll be able to find more information on how to do this.
This is your taxable income from all sources less your pension contributions. If you've sacrificed any income by taking salary sacrifice on or after 9 July 2015 then add this sacrificed income back on. If you have Threshold Income of £200,000 or more, then you may wish to consider your Adjusted Income, in case you are subject to a Tapered Annual Allowance.
Between 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2023, tapering applied if you had both a threshold income over £200,000 and an adjusted income over £240,000. The tapering worked by reducing your AA by £1 for every £2 of your adjusted income over £240,000 (subject to a minimum AA of £4,000 for adjusted incomes of £312,000 or more).
Prior to 6 April 2020, tapering applied if you had both a threshold income over £110,000 and an adjusted income over £150,000. The tapering worked by reducing your AA by £1 for every £2 of your adjusted income over £150,000 (subject to a minimum AA of £10,000 for adjusted incomes of £210,000 or more).
From 6 April 2024, the government abolished the framework that set out the limit on the amount you can take from your pension benefits and savings before you’re charged tax, known as the Lifetime Allowance.
In its place, the government introduced two new allowances, which took effect from 6 April 2024, they are the Lump Sum Allowance and the Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance.
Each time you take a relevant lump sum from your benefits and savings, or a relevant lump sum death benefit, you’ll use up some of your Lump Sum Allowance and/or Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance.
With effect from 6 April 2023 the LTA tax charge was abolished. However, certain LTA protections may still provide you with a higher amount of tax-free cash under the new LSA and LSDBA allowances. There are a few different things you can do in relation to your benefits to reduce the amount by which they exceed the LSA and LSDBA:
We’ll only be able to confirm how much LSA and LSDBA has been used by the benefits you take that were built up with USS – not with any other scheme. You’ll find an estimate of the LSA and LSDBA you’ve used up at USS in your next Annual Member Statement, and we’ll confirm what LSA and LSDBA you will have used when you retire.
If you’re no longer paying into USS, contact our Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043 and they’ll send you this information.
If you’ve retired on or after 6 April 2024, you’ll find your LSA and LSDBA on your retirement statement. We’ll provide details of the LSA and LSDBA to you each year too. If you retired prior to 6 April 2024, but you still have some savings invested in the Investment Builder you’ll find details of your LSA and LSDBA used by your USS savings in in your next Statutory Money Purchase Illustration.
If you go over the LSA or LSDBA, you may need to pay tax on any lump sum benefits in excess of your available allowances. This will be paid at your marginal rate and we’ll make sure this is deducted at source from any taxable lump sum benefits we pay to you.
In the event of your death, any tax-free lump sum death benefit paid in excess of your remaining LSDBA will be taxed at your beneficiaries marginal rate. Your Legal Personal Representative will be responsible for reporting this information to HMRC, who will then apply the tax and collect this directly from your beneficiaries.
From 6 April 2024, benefits paid to you, or your beneficiaries, as a tax-free lump sum will count towards your LSA/LSDBA.
However, if you have taken benefits from a registered pension arrangement or transferred benefits overseas to a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme prior to 6 April 2024, the value of all these benefits (i.e. pension income and lump sum benefits) will be assessed against the new allowances. If you are age 75 or over before 6 April 2024, this also includes the value of any benefits not taken by your 75th birthday.
By default, we will assume that 25% of the value of the benefits taken, or transferred overseas, before 6 April 2024 were taken as a tax-free lump sum. If you have taken any benefits as a serious ill health lump sum before the age of 75, we will assume that 100% of the value of any benefits taken were paid tax free.
Alternatively, if you have taken less than 25% of your benefits as a tax-free lump sum, you can apply to any of your pension schemes for a transitional tax-free amount certificate.
If you have taken benefits from a pension scheme prior to 6 April 2024, you can apply to any of your registered pension schemes and ask them to provide you with a Transitional tax-free amount certificate (TTFAC).
The TTFAC will detail the amount of LSA and LSDBA that you have remaining at 6 April 2024.
You are eligible to apply for a TTFAC if;
You do not have to apply for a TTFAC. However, HMRC recommend if you have taken benefits from a registered pension arrangement prior to 6 April 2024; and taken less than 25% of your benefits as a tax-free cash sum, you should apply for a TTFAC from the first registered pension scheme you plan to take benefits from on or after 6 April 2024. See the HMRC website for more information.
If you wish to apply for a TTFAC from USS, we will require a letter from each of your pension providers confirming:
Complete evidence will need to be provided to USS before a certificate can be issued.
Yes. But you’ll need to make sure your contributions don’t breach the conditions of any Lifetime Allowance protection you may have in place.
You can only take full retirement if you are retiring from the role in which you get your USS benefits. However, it is possible to consider and apply for flexible retirement.
Yes, you can cancel your EOO election. However, if you cancel within 12 months of making an election this will invalidate your EOO, you will need to be reinstated as a full member (including back payment of your contributions) with effect from the original election date. You may need to consider the tax implications of this decision and may want to take independent financial advice. Once you’ve cancelled EOO after 12 months, we can’t reinstate it under the current rules. Please contact your employer if you wish to revoke your election. You may want to speak to an independent financial adviser before making a decision in relation to your EOO including in relation to any tax implications.
If you choose EOO and subsequently retire after Normal Pension Age (age 66 from October 2020, age 65 immediately prior to that), late retirement increases will apply from Normal Pension Age until the date you retire. The only exception to this is if you chose EOO before 8 September 2021 and were over Normal Pension Age at that time, in which case late retirement increases will only apply from Normal Pension Age to the date you chose EOO.
For Fixed Protection 2016, you would have to have stopped building your pension by 5 April 2016. So if you didn’t have EOO on 1 April 2016, it’s now too late to apply for Fixed Protection 2016.
If you have Fixed Protection 2016 but you carried on building benefits, it’s your responsibility to inform HMRC that you no longer have the Fixed Protection.
EOO won’t affect your application for Individual protection 2016.
The contribution rate for EOO is 2.5%.
Your benefits will be calculated based on what you’d built up before your EOO started.
In the case of retirement before the Normal Pension Age (NPA), any reductions which apply to your pension will be the same as if you hadn’t used EOO – and you’d carried on building your pension with us.
Yes. We can accept a cancellation of a VSC application before 1 April of the tax year to which it applies. Otherwise, it will remain in force until the end of that tax year. If you want to cancel for subsequent years, you need to tell us by 3 March of that tax year.
It’s a standing agreement that continues each year on a rolling basis. You can cancel it by giving 28 days’ notice – the cancellation will take effect from 31 March. If the salary threshold catches up to your VSC, the salary threshold becomes your new VSC limit.
The lowest you can set the VSC is to the current salary threshold.
You need to decide the overall level of your VSC and tell your employers how you want it applied. For example, if you want to cap your salary at the threshold, and you have two posts at £30,000 per annum, your VSC could apply to one employer (at £10,000) and there’ll be no VSC with your other employer.
You’ll be covered up to the level that you set your VSC at. You can choose to pay 2.5% above the VSC for the full cover of your pensionable earnings.
Visit Enhanced Opt Out for more information.
You may be able to use Scheme Pays to pay your AA tax charge. We’ll take funds from your Investment Builder pot to cover your AA charge. If you haven’t built up enough in your pot, your benefits in the Retirement Income Builder will be reduced to pay the charge. If you don’t want your Retirement Income Builder benefits reduced, you may want to set your VSC higher to ensure you have enough funds in your Investment Builder pot or pay some of the tax charge yourself.
You must apply and your employer must submit your completed form before 3 March as your VSC will start from this date.
As a VSC will mean you build up fewer benefits, your adjusted income and the amount of your salary that’s assessed for Annual Allowance purposes will be reduced.
If you want the VSC to continue, you’ll need to let your new employer know, otherwise it’ll stop.
Yes, as long as the charge relates to your USS benefits.
Yes, as long as you let us know before you start taking your pension. This is so we can take off the correct amount before it starts being paid to you.
When you ask for a retirement quote, we’ll let you know what pension savings you've earned in that tax year (and the previous one if you haven’t had that information already). If your Annual Allowance (AA) tax charge is more than £1,000, you can let us know if you want to apply for Scheme Pays – we’ll send the form along with your retirement pack.
Unless you’re retired, you may not know whether you’ll need to pay an AA tax charge until the end of the tax year. You can submit your Scheme Pays notice before you retire based on the information you have at the time.
We’ll pay an estimate tax charge for you. If your charge is over this amount, you’ll need to make up the rest directly with HMRC. And if the charge is lower, you can ask HMRC for a refund.
We can help you with details on your pension with us, but we can’t confirm details about pensions you may have with other schemes or if you have a Tapered Annual Allowance.
To cover the charge, we’ll sell parts of your Investment Builder pot.
As the value of your pot changes every day, we can’t work out exactly how many units we need to sell to cover the charge. So we’ll sell off 10% more than we may need to make sure we have enough if the value of your pot changes. Any amount remaining over the tax charge will be reinvested for you. You’ll be able to see this in My USS.
We’ll only use your Retirement Income Builder benefits to cover the charge if you don’t have enough in your Investment Builder pot. It’ll be taken from your pension and one-off, cash lump sum. If you’re retiring, you can choose either your pension or lump sum to pay it.
We’ll work it out in the same way as if you want to change your pension into extra cash or vice versa. The AA tax charge is then taken from your pension as a regular amount.
You’ll find this information in your Annual Member Statement. If you’ve gone over the standard AA, you’ll also be able to see how much AA you’ve used over the last three years. So you’ll know whether you have any unused AA to carry forward to cover your tax charge.
You can also use our Contributions & Tax Calculator.
Yes, as you’ll already have received tax relief on your contributions. And if you’re over the salary threshold, your employer’s contributions to the Investment Builder will also help towards paying your charge.
You can still pay the charge through your own savings. Or if you’re retiring and taking a one-off, tax-free (subject to HMRC limits) cash lump sum, you could put aside some of the lump sum to pay the charge.
You’ll need to let HMRC know on your self-assessment tax return. You can find more information about paying your AA tax charge on the HMRC website.
You may be able to use your pension savings to cover the charge with Scheme Pays.
If you have enough unused AA to carry forward from the previous three tax years to cover the charge, you don’t need to complete a self-assessment tax return. Just keep a detailed record in case HMRC ask for more information in the future.
You may also wish to get some tax advice from a tax adviser.
If you want to seek guidance or take financial advice on the options available to you, visit the guidance and financial advice page. You’ll find a range of resources to support your planning and you can also find information on how to access an independent financial adviser.
You can estimate your penalty for late self-assessment tax returns and payments at gov.uk.
Yes, because these benefits are based on your full salary – not just limited to your salary threshold.
If you’ve used some of your funds to pay a Scheme Pays charge in the past, we’ll take an amount off your ill health benefits or the benefits we pay out when you die.
When you are informing the HMRC via your tax return of your intention to use Scheme Pays, you will need to give them the USS tax reference number of 00330004RR.
Your member number will be on any emails you receive from us, your welcome letter and your Annual Member Statement. Please note that you typically won’t receive your first Annual Member Statement until the Autumn after you join. But it could be longer.
If you’ve not received either of these yet, you can get in touch with our Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043. Lines are open 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Once logged in to My USS you can view and manage your savings on the ‘View or manage savings’ page in the Investment Builder section. You’ll find forms on this page that allow you to make or change your additional contributions. You’ll be able to make monthly additional contributions, pay a one-off lump sum payment or take The Match.
Register or log in to My USS. Once logged in, you’ll see your TRA on your Investment Builder page. Just select ‘Update your TRA’ to update it in line with your future plans.
Your TRA can also be updated if you choose to make an investment decision via the ‘Manage investments’ page. If you choose the Do It For Me Option, you’ll be asked to update your TRA.
Watch our Target Retirement Age video and find out why it’s important to keep this up to date.
You can reset your password or PIN – just visit the My USS log in page and select ‘Forgotten details?’. You can also watch our video on how to reset your password or PIN.
Once you’ve reset your details, you’ll receive the following emails within five minutes:
We’ll send them to the email address you use to sign into My USS. This may be different to the one you use to receive USS communications. If you don’t get these emails within five minutes, check your spam, junk or promotions folders.
If you’ve forgotten the email address you used to register with, you’ll need to contact our Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043. Lines are open 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday.
To register for My USS you’ll need your member number, your National Insurance number and a personal email address.
You can find your member number on your Annual Member Statement or your welcome letter.
If you haven’t received either of these or are still having trouble registering, call our Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043. Lines are open 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday.
If you’re still paying in to USS, speak to your employer. They’ll be able to provide you with a form to get things started.
If you’ve stopped paying in to USS, you can contact our Ill health Retirement Team on 0333 300 1043.
All you have to do is complete an Expression of Wish form or a Registration of potential dependant form to let us know who you’d like to receive your benefits if you die. It doesn’t always have to be a person, it could even be a charity or any other organisation capable of receiving the money.
We recommend that you update theses every three years so we know they’re up to date, even if your wishes haven’t changed.
Log in to My USS to complete these online or download the Expression of Wish form or Registration of potential dependant form to print and return to us.
You can contact our Bereavement Team on 0151 556 0620.
Log in to My USS to complete the Registration of potential dependant form online or download the Registration of potential dependant form to print and return to us. 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.
Log in to My USS to complete the Expression of Wish form online or download the Expression of Wish form to print and return to us. 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.
Take a look at our Divorce factsheet.
For information on maternity, paternity, shared parental leave or family leave, take a look at becoming a parent.
We’ll base your contributions on your actual salary during the year – not the full-time equivalent. And if your salary in any given month is over the monthly equivalent of the salary threshold, you and your employer will automatically contribute to your Investment Builder pot for that month.
If you’re a variable-time worker, find more information on our changes to your job page.
You get life cover whilst paying in to USS. This means if you die whilst paying in, your loved ones may be able to get a lump sum of three times your salary – and a pension too.
If you’ve stopped paying in to USS or are already retired, your loved ones may still be eligible to the benefits that you’ve built up.
Read more on our what happens when you die page.
Things change as you move through life, which could affect your pension or who you choose as your beneficiaries. Take a look at our life events pages to find out what will happen to your pension depending on what’s happening in your life.
A dependant is someone who’s fully or partly financially dependent on you, or dependent on you because of any physical or mental disability when you die.
Your pensionable service was based on how many days you'd been a member of USS. It included any additional service you'd received by paying AVCs or transferring in pension benefits from another scheme.
If you worked part-time for any period, that period of service would be multiplied by your part-time service fraction – and your pensionable salary would be based on your full-time equivalent salary.
If you were paying these AVCs after 31 March 2016, you will carry on building up an additional Career Revalued Benefit pension. These will then be increased with standard pension increases.
You can cancel your Career Revalued Benefit AVCs at any time. All you need to do is speak to your employer. This will mean you’ll only receive the benefits you’d built up. Think about this carefully first as you won’t be able to restart them once they’re cancelled.
If you were paying Final Salary AVCs and you’ve chosen to carry on paying them, you will have earned more service. After each 31 March, we add in any extra service you've earned to your pre-2016 pensionable service and recalculate your Final Salary benefits. So the benefit you get will be based on your salary on 31 March 2016, although the contributions you pay will depend on your current salary.
You can cancel your AVC whenever you like – simply speak to your employer. This will mean you’ll only receive the benefits you’d built up. This is also the case if your AVCs stop because of early retirement or you decide to leave USS.
Once you’ve cancelled your AVC, you won’t be able to restart it – so please think about this carefully first.
Yes, you can switch them to your Investment Builder pot. Complete and return the Request to voluntarily switch MPAVC funds into the Investment Builder form.
Additional contributions can only be made to the Investment Builder.
You can set these up in My USS. Visit our Investment Builder page for more on how this part of USS works.
The Investment Builder – the defined contribution (DC) part of USS – lets you save a bit extra. You can make additional contributions in My USS, which will go into your Investment Builder pot. These can be regular contributions or a one-off payment.
Visit our Investment Builder page for more information.
You’ll find this information on your Prudential annual statement. You can also visit the Prudential site or contact Prudential directly. See more on our MPAVCs page.
For a small number of our members we need to carry out additional checks and calculations on their benefits and therefore can’t produce an automatic statement. But rest assured that you continue to build up benefits in USS and this doesn’t affect your benefits.
You can use our online tools to work out what your pension could be and consider your options. If you require any further information you can contact us at any time.
As well as building benefits in the Retirement Income Builder, a contribution from you and your employer equal to 20% of your salary over the salary threshold will go into your Investment Builder pot.
To get an idea of how much you’ll save each year, see what your pension might look like for some examples.
Remember, the value of your Investment Builder pot can go up or down depending on how your investments perform.
You can begin taking savings from your Investment Builder (defined contribution) pot anytime from age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028 for certain members) in a number of different ways, depending on your future plans. One option is to take cash payments, otherwise known as UFPLS.
With USS, you can take up to four cash payments each year from your Investment Builder pot (minimum £2,000 each, unless you are taking your entire pot). There is no charge for cash payments with USS.
Read more in our Taking cash from your Investment Builder pot (UFPLS) factsheet.
The Match is one way to make additional contributions to save more – you can choose to pay an additional 1% of your salary every month to the Investment Builder. If you paid The Match between October 2016 and March 2019, you would have received an extra 1% contribution from your employer too. But from 1 April 2019, the employer element of The Match was removed. You can still choose, or may still have, The Match. But your employer will no longer match the 1%.
If you want to seek guidance or take financial advice on the options available to you, visit the guidance and financial advice page. You’ll find a range of resources including a number of free webinars to register for or watch on-demand to support your planning and you can also find information on how to access an independent financial adviser.
No, Universities Superannuation Scheme itself is not a PFIC.
Investment in a PFIC can result in additional tax liabilities and reporting requirements under US tax law.
Please note: The information described in this FAQ is based on USS’s understanding of US federal income tax requirements at the date of publication, is for general guidance only and does not constitute tax advice. It is not a legal document and does not explain all situations or eventualities. Any changes in US tax law or requirements and/or the USS Scheme Rules may affect this information. We recommend that members seek their own tax advice before making any decisions or refraining from making any decisions in relation to their USS pension/their US tax position.
Yes, Universities Superannuation Scheme sometimes invests in entities which would be considered PFICs.
Please note: The information described in this FAQ is based on USS’s understanding of US federal income tax requirements at the date of publication, is for general guidance only and does not constitute tax advice. It is not a legal document and does not explain all situations or eventualities. Any changes in US tax law or requirements and/or the USS Scheme Rules may affect this information. We recommend that members seek their own tax advice before making any decisions or refraining from making any decisions in relation to their USS pension/their US tax position.
Yes, Universities Superannuation Scheme meets the definition of a pension scheme under the Convention.
The Convention includes a number of provisions which specifically address the tax treatment of membership of a UK pension scheme. A member of USS with US citizenship who meets the eligibility requirements of the Convention can benefit from these provisions and is not required to include income from his or her interest in Universities Superannuation Scheme on the US federal income tax return until a distribution is received. The provisions of the Convention apply to both the DB and DC elements of the scheme.
Please note: The information described in this FAQ is based on USS’s understanding of US federal income tax requirements at the date of publication, is for general guidance only and does not constitute tax advice. It is not a legal document and does not explain all situations or eventualities. Any changes in US tax law or requirements and/or the USS Scheme Rules may affect this information. We recommend that members seek their own tax advice before making any decisions or refraining from making any decisions in relation to their USS pension/their US tax position.
Yes, in the unusual case when a member has made aggregate contributions to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (including the DC element) that exceed in amount the contributions made by the employer. Even in that case, however, there is potentially a position that can be taken under the Convention that the member should not need to report income from the PFIC on his/her US tax return (prior to distribution), or file IRS Form 8621 "Information Return by a Shareholder of a Passive Foreign Investment Company or Qualified Electing Fund" with such return.
Please note: The information described in this FAQ is based on USS’s understanding of US federal income tax requirements at the date of publication, is for general guidance only and does not constitute tax advice. It is not a legal document and does not explain all situations or eventualities. Any changes in US tax law or requirements and/or the USS Scheme Rules may affect this information. We recommend that members seek their own tax advice before making any decisions or refraining from making any decisions in relation to their USS pension/their US tax position.
Subject to individual circumstances, a member with US citizenship may be required annually to report his or her interest in USS to the IRS as follows:
Please note: The information described in this FAQ is based on USS’s understanding of US federal income tax requirements at the date of publication, is for general guidance only and does not constitute tax advice. It is not a legal document and does not explain all situations or eventualities. Any changes in US tax law or requirements and/or the USS Scheme Rules may affect this information. We recommend that members seek their own tax advice before making any decisions or refraining from making any decisions in relation to their USS pension/their US tax position.
US taxation is a complex area which could have significant financial implications for those members with US citizenship. We therefore recommend that such members seek specialist tax advice from a US qualified tax adviser as to whether they should make any report on their US tax return and/or be filing any returns with regard to the scheme. Please note that the trustee is not authorised to provide any financial, investment or tax advice and is unable to complete any forms on your behalf. These FAQS are intended to provide general guidance only and should not be relied upon by members when making, or refraining from making, any decisions. This is not a legal document and does not cover all situations and eventualities - the trustee does not accept any liability if members rely on the information in these FAQs.
Please note: The information described in this FAQ is based on USS’s understanding of US federal income tax requirements at the date of publication, is for general guidance only and does not constitute tax advice. It is not a legal document and does not explain all situations or eventualities. Any changes in US tax law or requirements and/or the USS Scheme Rules may affect this information. We recommend that members seek their own tax advice before making any decisions or refraining from making any decisions in relation to their USS pension/their US tax position.
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