Annual Member Statement

Once all statements have been issued later in the year, you’ll be able to find a digital version on My USS. You can then access your statement online, whenever you want. When you have logged in, select ‘My documents’ to view and download your latest statement to 31 March 2021.

To register for My USS you will need your USS member number (you can find this on your statement), Your National Insurance number, and an email address (we recommend you use a personal one). With this information, you can create a password and security question to create your account on My USS.

There could be several reasons why you may not have received a statement at the same time as your colleagues. If you haven’t received your Annual Member Statement, please check with your employer in the first instance.

If you’d like to update your personal details or query any of the figures referred to in your Annual Member Statement, please get in touch with your employer’s pension contact in the first instance.

Alternatively, you can contact us via our online contact form, or you can contact the Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043 (lines are open 9am-5pm Monday-Friday). You can also write to us at Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited, Royal Liver Building, Liverpool, L3 1PY.

Contributions paid to the Retirement Income Builder are not shown in your statement or My USS because your Retirement Income Builder benefits are calculated based on your length of service, pensionable salary and scheme accrual rate, rather than the investment of contributions.

The value of investments can go down as well as up with market inflections and the return on your investments is not guaranteed. You can find your latest Investment Builder amount in My USS.

The statement is a valuation of your benefits up to and including 31 March 2021 only. You will be able to see your contribution transaction history for additional contributions, transfers in to USS, and any regular contributions above the salary threshold (£59,883.65 for 2021/22) by logging in to My USS, the online portal for managing your membership.

For a projection of your benefits or to see how retiring earlier or later might affect your benefits, log in to the Benefit Illustrator, with your USS member number and National Insurance number. Your USS member number can be found on your statement.

If you have not received your statement, you can still use the Benefit Illustrator non-login version and manually input your pension information to see a projection of your benefits to retirement age. To request up to date pension information, please use the contact us form.

In the first instance, please get in touch with your employer’s USS pension contact, this information can be found on your statement.

For queries regarding your Investment Builder pot, you can contact us via our online contact form, or you can contact the Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043 (lines are open 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday). You can also write to us at Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited, Royal Liver Building, Liverpool, L3 1PY.

Your employer currently pays a monthly contribution equal to 21.4% of your salary into the Retirement Income Builder, while you pay 9.8%.

This will depend on a number of things, such as the rate of income tax you pay, any tax relief to which you’re entitled and whether you’ve exceeded the Annual Allowance. For more information on pension tax, visit our pension tax page or go to gov.uk/tax-on-pension.

If you’ve incurred an Annual Allowance tax charge, you may be able to use Scheme Pays, depending on the amount of the charge. With Scheme Pays, USS pays the Annual Allowance charge direct to HMRC from your USS pension on your behalf.

If you apply for Scheme Pays, it will be funded through your Investment Builder in the first instance. If those funds are insufficient, a pension reduction will be applied to your benefits in the Retirement Income Builder. Should you incur an Annual Allowance tax charge, you should think carefully about the option to use Scheme Pays. For more information, including deadlines and terms and conditions, check out our pension tax web pages.

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. For more information on Scheme Pays, including deadlines and terms and conditions, check out our Scheme Pays web page.

You can change your TRA in My USS on the Investment Builder page. If you have not set a TRA, for this statement at 31 March 2021, it has automatically been set to the NPA of 66. It will remain 66 unless you change it.

Your Target Retirement Age (TRA) is important for a couple of reasons. It tells us when to move any investments you have in the Investment Builder to lower risk funds as you get closer to taking them – we do this for members in the USS Default Lifestyle Option and the USS Ethical Lifestyle Option (Do It For Me Options). We also use the TRA when we send you your annual projection of what your Investment Builder funds could be worth at retirement. If you already save in the Investment Builder, and you have not set a TRA, for this statement at 31 March 2021, it has automatically been set to the NPA of 66. It will remain 66 unless you change it.

The Normal Pension Age changed from 65 to 66 from 6 October 2020. This is because our Normal Pension Age goes up automatically in line with the State Pension age, which increased to 66 at the same time. If you retire after 6 October 2020, and you’re below 66 when you do, the Retirement Income Builder benefits you build up from October 2020 may be reduced to reflect early payment.

The Normal Pension Age in USS will remain aligned with State Pension age for any future increases made by the government.

Yes. If you have more than one job that entitles you to membership with USS, the benefits from all will be combined on your statement.

Your Annual Member Statement includes the value of all the benefits built up to 31 March 2021. This includes any transfers in, and additional contributions you may have made.

When you switch investments between funds, the amount that you switch is reflected in the figure for Total contributions made during the year. The carried forward value of your savings to 31 March 2021, is reduced accordingly.

Here are some things you can do in My USS:

• See the benefits you’ve built up in the Retirement Income Builder (only for members paying in to USS)
• Review any Investment Builder savings and make investment choices that are right for you
• View or change your Target Retirement Age (TRA) if you have savings in the Investment Builder
• Top up your retirement savings with additional contributions (only for members paying in to USS)
• Update your security details – like your password and PIN.

Check out your options and different ages and stages for more information relating to early retirement and the other options you have when it comes to accessing your benefits.

The most recently issued Annual Member Statements (31 March 2021) quote the scheme’s Normal Pension Age (NPA) which is currently age 66. This is usually the earliest age you can receive the full amount of USS benefits you’ve earned, without a reduction for early retirement.

In the past, however, individual contracts of employment could have conferred a different, lower, retirement age (but not less than age 60). This means that some individuals may have had the right to retire earlier than USS’s NPA.

Based on feedback from employers, we have quoted the NPA on the Annual Member Statement. If you have a Contractual Pension Age this will be quoted in your contract with your employer.

This figure won’t be shown if you’re:

• within two years of your Target Retirement Age (TRA),
• over the age of 66, or
• a low fund value and haven’t made any contributions to it this year.

Details of what benefits your savings will give you on retirement will be provided to you when you come to take your benefits.

You can contact our Member Service Team on 0333 300 1043 (lines are open 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday). You can also write to us at Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited, Royal Liver Building, Liverpool, L3 1PY.

Your investment returns includes any deduction and/or lump sum that was payable when you flexibly retired.

If you exceeded the standard statutory Annual Allowance (AA) of £40,000 for the period 6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021, you will have received a separate statement from us. The statement only accounts for the value of your USS benefits and savings, it doesn’t include any other pension savings you may have outside of USS.

The Normal Pension Age in USS changed from 65 to 66 on 6 October 2020. This is because our Normal Pension Age goes up automatically in line with the State Pension age, which increased to 66 at the same time. If you retire after 6 October 2020, and you’re below 66 when you do, the Retirement Income Builder benefits you build up from October 2020 may be reduced to reflect early payment.

The Normal Pension Age in USS will remain aligned with State Pension age for any future increases made by the government.

We are required to send members details of their defined contribution (DC) savings  (in the Investment Builder) annually. This Statutory Money Purchase Illustration Statement shows a snapshot of your savings as at 31 March 2021. As you had savings with us at that date, you have received this statement for that date.

When you switch investments between funds, the amount that you switch is reflected in the figure for total contributions made during the year. The carried forward value of your savings to 31 March 2021, is reduced accordingly.

If you are retired and still have savings in the Investment Builder, you have some options on how to access and use these savings. For more information on how you can take these, visit our taking your benefits and savings page.