Your options at different ages and stages

The earliest you can start taking your benefits from the Retirement Income Builder and savings from the Investment Builder is age 55 onwards (rising to 57 for some members*), unless you’re retiring because of ill health). But there’s no reason why you can’t start preparing for your future. So here are a couple of things you can do:

• Visit My USS to view your benefits and savings.
• Use our Benefit Calculator in My USS to take a look at what these could look like in the future and see if you're on track.
• If you’re not quite on track, you could make additional contributions to the Investment Builder in My USS. It’s a good way to boost your savings.
• If you have Investment Builder savings check your Target Retirement Age (TRA) is right for you in My USS. This lets us to know when to get in touch about your Investment Builder options and when we need to move your investments as you approach this age. if we’re managing them for you.
• Use our Retirement Planning Tool and Retirement Checklist to plan for your future, explore your options and understand the actions you might need to take.

If you’ve been made redundant, you may be able to retire from age 50 as long as you’ve been paying in continuously since 5 April 2006.

*If you were a member of USS on or before 3 November 2021 you may have a Protected Pension Age (PPA) of 55. If you have a PPA this means that you retain the right to take your USS benefits from age 55 even after the rise in the Minimum Pension Age to age 57 on 6 April 2028. If you joined USS on or after 4 November 2021 you will not have a PPA on benefits accrued in USS, but you may have a PPA on benefits that you have transferred into USS.

Now you’re over 55, you can start taking your benefits and any savings. But we may reduce your benefits as you’ll be taking them earlier than the Normal Pension Age, to make up for them being paid out for longer.

Remember that you don’t have to take your Retirement Income Builder benefits and Investment Builder savings at the same time, you can take any Investment Builder savings before or after you retire.

Your Retirement Income Builder options

Here’s what you can do:

• You can now start taking your pension – your guaranteed income from the Retirement Income Builder –, as long as you retire completely from your job with a USS employer.
• You can retire flexibly from 55 until you reach 75 (if you’re still paying in), as long as your employer agrees. You can take between 20% – 80% of your Retirement Income Builder benefits. But you’ll need to reduce your hours and salary by at least 20%.
• If you stopped paying in but you weren’t old enough to take your benefits at the time, you can now ask for them to start being paid to you. You must take your benefits at the Normal Pension Age (NPA).

Your Investment Builder options

You can now start taking the savings from your Investment Builder pot alongside your Retirement Income Builder benefits in a variety of ways. Or you could leave them invested and take them at a later date to suit you.

Find out about the different ways you can take your savings in using your Investment Builder pot. Or visit taking your benefits and savings to see your options when taking both your benefits and savings together or separately.

If you do leave them invested, make sure you update your Target Retirement Age (TRA) in My USS and check your savings are invested in the right way for you.

Visit choosing your investments for more on your investment choices.

You’ll need to decide whether you want to carry on working, flexibly retire or fully retire when you reach the Normal Pension Age (NPA).

If you want to carry on working

You need to decide whether you’ll keep building your benefits and savings or not. This decision needs to be made before you reach the Normal Pension Age (NPA).

If you keep paying in

You’ll carry on building your Retirement Income Builder benefits, and any Investment Builder savings if you earn over the salary threshold. And we’ll increase the Retirement Income Builder benefits you built up before the NPA to make up for you retiring later.

This happens automatically if you don’t make a choice.

If you stop paying in

You’ll stop building any more benefits and savings – but you’ll still get an increase to make up for retiring later.

Let your employer know if you’re planning to carry on working but want to stop paying in.

If you want to retire

Once you turn 66, you’ll be able to start taking your Retirement Income Builder benefits in full. Please speak to your employer about this.

How you take any Investment Builder savings alongside this is up to you. There are a few options you can choose from – take a look at using your Investment Builder pot for more information.

If you already stopped paying in to USS, you’ll need to start taking your pension when you reach the Normal Pension Age (NPA). If you don’t receive a retirement quote three months before your NPA, please call us on 0333 300 1043.

Even though you passed the Normal Pension Age (NPA), you may want to ease yourself into retirement.

As long as you’re still working for a USS employer you can:

• retire flexibly
• retire after 66. Any Retirement Income Builder benefits you built up before the NPA will increase to make up for them being paid out late. And if you continue paying in, your employer will carry on making contributions too, so your benefits, and any Investment Builder savings if you earn over the salary threshold, will continue to grow.

If you keep paying in after the NPA, then later choose to stop paying but don’t retire, you’ll be treated as a leaver when you do eventually retire. So we won’t increase what you’ve built up, even though you’ve retired late.

Just so you know, you’ll need to start taking your pension from the Retirement Income Builder by age 75.

• Your employer must agree to your hours and salary being reduced by at least 20% each time you take flex.
• Your part-time hours should not increase within 12 months of you taking flex. If your hours and/or salary do go up, you’ll make contributions based on your new salary, and your benefits will be based on this salary too.
• You must give USS at least two months’ notice of the date you’re flexibly retiring from.
• You must agree your flexible retirement with your employer before you reduce your hours.
• Your hours must reduce the day after you flexibly retire – there can't be a gap between the two.
• You can flex up to three times (you’ll retire fully on your final flex).

You can carry on working and take a minimum of 20% of your benefits for your first and final flex. You can flex up to three times (you’ll retire fully on your final flex).

Your first flex

You can take between 20% and 80% of your benefits as a flex. If you take 80% straightaway, you’ll need to retire fully the next time you want to take flex.

Your second or final flex

If you took less than 80% of your benefits for your first flex, you choose how much to take for your second flex – as long as you leave at least 20% for a final flex. Or, you can choose to take all your benefits meaning you retire fully.

Retire fully

If you have any benefits to take after your second flex, you’ll now take them as your final flex. This means you’ll retire fully.

To be classed as retired, you can’t be considering starting another post where you’ll be entitled to a USS pension. But if you retire and you’re later offered a role in which you’re able to get a USS pension, your employer may have a duty to enrol you into a pension scheme. Find out more under How to join in a pensions overview.

If you choose flexible retirement, you’ll carry on contributing to build benefits on a part-time basis until you retire fully. So, your final benefits will be based on everything you’ve built up – minus the value of the benefits you’ve already taken as part of flex.

The following types of members may not be able to take advantage of flexible retirement:

• Anyone who’s no longer employed in a USS pensionable post
• Variable time employees
• Those working in several different roles. These members may still be able to take flexible retirement, but the process is more complex. Speak to your employer if this is relevant to you and you’d like to know more.