Your retirement journey

Your pension is paid into a UK bank or building society on the 21st of each month by BACS. If the 21st of any month falls over a weekend or on a bank holiday, you’ll be paid on the working day prior.

It’ll be subject to tax, just like a regular income, and it’ll be paid for the rest of your life.

Your pension will be reviewed each April in line with our standard pension increases. Increases are linked to increases in official pensions paid to public sector employees (like teachers, civil servants or NHS employees).

For any USS benefits you earned before October 2011, we match the full increases.

For any USS benefits earned from 1 October 2011 we match the increases for the first 5% and pay 50% of any increase over 5%, up to a maximum annual increase of 10%*.

We’ll send you a Pension Increase letter each April to confirm any increases you might receive.

During any periods of deflation, or negative inflation, we won’t reduce the value of your pension, but it won’t increase.

*This cap doesn’t apply to added years AVCs under agreements dated prior to 1 October 2011.

My USS is our online portal for managing your membership. Here you can view your pension payslips and P60 (for 2019/20 onwards), and update your address details and beneficiaries.

If you still have Investment Builder savings, you can view and manage these in My USS too. You can no longer make contributions, but you can see where your savings are invested and manage your investment choices.

Make sure you keep your Target Retirement Age (TRA) up to date in My USS if you have Investment Builder savings. This lets us know when to move your investments or when to contact you about your Investment Builder savings, depending on your investment choices.

If you die in retirement, your loved ones may still be eligible to the benefits that you’ve built up. And any savings you have left in the Investment Builder will also be paid to them.

To find out more, visit what happens when you die and read our factsheet.

It’s important to keep your beneficiaries and dependants up to date. Complete an Expression of Wish form or a Registration of potential dependant form (if you’re not married or in a civil partnership) to let us know who may be able to receive your benefits when you die.

If you have been retired for more than five years, then there is no lump sum payable. You are therefore not able to submit an Expression of Wish form outside of this period.

Log in to My USS to complete these online or download the Expression of Wish form and Registration of potential dependant form to print and return to us.

If you’ve taken your Retirement Income Builder benefits but left your Investment Builder savings invested to take at a later date, you have a few options.

You’re not limited to taking your savings in just one way. You can mix and match your options depending on your future plans.

You can take cash payments from your savings (known as UFPLS) as and when you need to. Or you could transfer your savings to another scheme that may also offer this 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.

Make sure you keep your Target Retirement Age (TRA) up to date in My USS. This lets us know when to move your investments or when to contact you about your Investment Builder savings, depending on your investment choices.

Watch our Target Retirement Age video and find out why it’s important to keep this up to date.

Log in or register for My USS to view and manage any savings in the Investment Builder.

Need a hand?

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.

It’s really important that you keep your details up to date so we can get in touch with you.

To update your address, log in to My USS, our online portal for managing your membership.

For anything else you can complete a Notification of change in details form and return this to us.

If you have any questions relating to your USS pension, contact our Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043. Lines are open 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday.

If you have any questions about your tax code, contact HMRC directly on 0300 200 3300, quoting your National Insurance number and our PAYE reference 428/U168.