Retirement - Normal

As you approach your Normal Retirement Date the DB Section Administrator will automatically send you a retirement quotation and all the documentation you will need to complete. You can expect to receive your quotation around six months before your Normal Retirement Date.

Once you have decided how you wish to take your benefits simply complete and return all the documents. You will need to provide originals of the certificates requested but these will be returned to you in a couple of days.

Once you have returned the documentation, the DB Section Administrator will undertake all the final checks in readiness to start paying your pension.

Once all the checks have been completed the DB Section Administrator will update your record in readiness to start paying your pension.

The day has arrived. You are now a Pensioner member of the DB Section.

If you chose to take some of your benefits in the form of a lump sum this will be paid directly to your chosen bank account on your retirement date, or as soon as practical after this date.

The DB Section Administrator will write to you confirming everything has been arranged. Please allow six weeks (on receipt of receiving your Retirement Option Form) for this to be completed.

Receiving your first pension payment

On average it takes around six weeks from the date you return your Retirement Option Form to the date you’ll receive your first pension payment. This timescale varies from member to member. Some factors that can increase the time it takes are shown below:

• The complexity of your benefits – the Scheme Actuary is required to review some benefit calculations which can add up to two weeks to the process;
• How quickly you return all the information required – the Administrator will require a lot of information before it can set up your pension. Some of this information will relate to other pension benefits you may have, which may take time for you to receive from the relevant provider;
• Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) – if you have paid AVCs you will need to decide how best to use these. This will include you taking the appropriate advice (for example from Pension Wise). You will need to confirm how you want to use your AVCs before the administrator can arrange to pay your pension;
• Factor changes – the calculation of your benefits is based on a number of actuarial factors, these are reviewed each month. If your actual retirement date is on or around the review date there may be a delay of a few days while the administrator is waiting for confirmation of the new factors; or
• The date pensions are paid – pensions are paid on the first working day of the month. However, each month there is an earlier ‘cut-off’ date, around the middle of the month, after which no further changes can be made to the payroll files. If the administrator receives your completed forms after this date, you will not receive your first pension payment until the next available pension payment date (the first of the following month).