Check what you’ve got
Most members like you take their USS benefits between 60 and 65 years old, so you might be starting to think about what your retirement could look like — and that can be quite daunting.
We know, from our surveys, that almost a quarter of our members who are around your age are not sure about the pension decisions they might need to make.
But there’s a range of support and guidance available to help you make the choices that are right for you:
USS guidance webinars
Our webinars guide you through the process of taking your benefits and retiring from USS. You can register to attend them live or watch a recording at a time that suits you. You can even click through and just watch the sections that are relevant to your circumstances. Here are a few that might be useful:
- Approaching retirement: this guides you through the retirement process and taking your USS benefits.
- Decisions after leaving: you’ve stopped paying in but not yet retired; this covers what you need to know.
- Focus on pension tax: an in-depth session on tax allowances, if you are making or have significant pension savings.
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Tax and your pension: a more basic tax overview, with a section on paying income tax on your pension benefits.
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Understanding DC — Taking savings from the Investment Builder: if you have savings in the Investment Builder, this talks you through the different ways you can take them.
Other free support
MoneyHelper is a free resource that’s backed by the government, to help make your money and pensions choices clearer.
Useful tools
You can use the Benefit Calculator in My USS to project the effects of taking your benefits in different ways and at different times. This can help with decisions you need to make and with any conversation you might have with a financial adviser.
Financial advice
You can speak to your own financial adviser or get in touch with Mercer, the financial advisers who host our webinars. You can contact them on the Mercer website.
Useful resources
We have some specific online resources for members who are thinking about taking their benefits these include our:
Published: 25 June 2026