Pension FAQs

A pension is a special type of savings plan to help you put aside money for later life. For most people it has tax benefits too.

The law requires that all eligible employees and casual workers are enrolled into a pension scheme. Imperial will do this automatically either when your employment commences or at the point you reach certain qualifying criteria - you do not need to take any action.

Yes. You can opt out at any time after enrolment – you just need to either follow the opt out process advised or fill in the opt out form, both available on the auto-enrolment webpage (you can find the link to this webpage below).

For USS & SAUL CARE members

If you opt-out within 3 months of first being enrolled: You will be opted-out from the date you were enrolled and will effectively have never joined the scheme. Any contributions you have paid will be refunded. If this applies to you and you want to opt-out you should complete one of the following forms (depending on which scheme you are in).

If you opt-out after 3 months or more from being enrolled: You must give 28 days’ notice in order to opt-out. Your service in the scheme (and your contributions) will stop on the first day of the month following the end of the 28 days’ notice period (which begins when the Pensions Office receives your opt-out form). For example, if you send your opt-out form on 15 May, your notice period ends on 12 June and you will then be opted-out of the scheme on 1 July.

Important note for SAUL Start members:

If you opt-out within 30 days of first being enrolled: The opt out period for SAUL Start is 30 days from the date when Legal and General (L&G), the scheme administrator, add you to their system. Welcome information sent by L&G to you will outline a clear deadline date for opting out. Contribution refunds will be made to those who opt out within 30 days of joining SAUL Start.

If you opt out after 30 days: You will not receive a refund of contributions you have made if you opt-out after 30 days, however, you will keep your pension pot in SAUL Start until you retire or transfer it out.

If you want to opt-out you should complete one of the following forms (depending on which scheme you are in) You can find all opt out forms and processes available via the auto enrolment webpage, which you can view below.

Pensions auto-enrolment | Administration and support services | Imperial College London.

• The SAUL START opt out form is for new members to submit with their new starter checklist on day one (Option 1)
• SAUL START (The Legal & General link to worksave choice) is for members enrolled for less than 30 days & have been paid (Option 2 - you will need to opt out via the worksave choice link)
• SAUL START (The Legal & General link to worksave choice) is for members who have been enrolled for more than 30 days (Option 3 - you will need to opt out via manage your account)
• SAUL CARE Opt Out Form is for members in the SAUL CARE pension scheme
• USS Opt Out Form is for members in the USS Pension Scheme

Yes. After two months of employment, if you are not already an active member of one of Imperial's pensions schemes, you will be automatically enrolled onto the appropriate pension scheme, providing: 

• You earn over £833.00 per month
• You are aged 22 or over and
• You are under the state pension age
• And ordinarily work in the UK.

It may take more than two months for you to meet the qualifying criteria. If you do not wish to contribute you may opt out of the pension scheme at any time after you have been auto-enrolled.

Imperial offers three pension schemes:

• Superannuation Arrangements for the University of London – SAUL
• University Superannuation Scheme – USS
• National Health Service – NHSPS

Your job role and / or grade will determine which pension scheme you are eligible to join.

USS 
Eligible for Academic & Research family; Professional, Technical & Operational and Learning grades - Level 4 and above; Teaching grades - Senior Teaching Fellow and above

SAUL 
Eligible for Professional, Technical & Operational and learning grades - Level 3b and below; Teaching grades - Teaching Fellow and below

NHS 
Eligible for staff who have participated in the scheme in the preceding 12 months.

When you are completing your new employee starter checklist on your first day you must indicate if you have paid contributions to the NHS in the last 12 months. If you tick this box, you will be entered into the NHS pension scheme. Leaving this box blank means you will be entered into USS.

When you become a member of USS you automatically join the USS Retirement Income Builder. In this type of defined benefit pension scheme your benefits are based on each year’s salary throughout the period of membership.

USS also offers a Defined Contribution scheme called Investment Builder. In this scheme benefits are determined by the amount contributed and the performance of the investment.

In the Defined Benefit section of USS you build up your pension via the Retirement Income Builder. In this section you will build up a pension based on 1/75 of your earnings each year, up to a threshold, currently £70,296 pa or £5858 per month. 

However, in the Defined Contribution section of USS you build up your pension via the Investment Builder. If you earn over the salary threshold of £70,296 pa, you will automatically join this section as well as the Income Builder section above. Contributions in excess of the threshold go into the investment fund. 6.1% of your contributions above the threshold and 13.9% of employer contributions above the threshold are invested each month you are paid.

Retirement Income Builder 

Defined Benefit - Based on each year's salary throughout the period of membership.

Investment Builder

Defined Contribution - Determined by the amount contributed and the performance of the investment.

In addition, all scheme members are entitled to make additional voluntary contributions to the Investment Builder Scheme.

If you start your new job at Imperial within a month of leaving your previous employer (and are entitled to join the same scheme you had at that employer, either USS, SAUL or the NHSPS) you will keep the same record with relevant scheme. All of your benefits will be kept together.

If there is longer than a month’s gap you will get a new record with the pension scheme, and the benefits in relation to your previous employer will be retained in the scheme. The amount of benefits that you receive will not be affected by whether or not you have one or more records with the scheme.

Unfortunately not – you are only eligible to join the scheme appropriate for your role and grade (see our main Pensions webpage for details on which jobs and grades are eligible for each scheme).

Unfortunately not – you are only eligible to join the scheme appropriate for your role and grade (see our main Pensions webpage for details on which jobs and grades are eligible for each scheme).

USS
14.5% of pensionable salary

SAUL Care
19% of pensionable salary

SAUL Start

15% of pensionable salary (plus 1% of salary to help cover the costs of running the plan and paying death-in-service benefits)

NHS
14.38% of pensionable salary

If you are a member of USS and are paying AVCs into the Investment Builder (or using the match) please access MyUSS where you will be able to change your AVC options.

If you are a member of USS and either pay AVCs into the money purchase arrangement with Prudential or to USS in order to secure Additional Service you will need to email the pensions@imperial.ac.uk if you wish to end this arrangement.

If you are a member of SAUL or the NHS Pension Scheme please email the pensions@imperial.ac.uk who will arrange for the cancellation.

The pension scheme will write to you setting out your options. You may choose to leave the contributions in the scheme, transfer them to another scheme or in certain circumstances, receive a refund of your contributions.

Yes. You can re-join the scheme appropriate for your job family and grade at any time.

If you change your mind, you will be able to opt back in (please note: this is only possible once in any 12 months period) – You can email the pensions team via pensions@imperial.ac.uk to action this.

You do not need to ‘transfer’ your pension.

If you start your new job within a month of leaving Imperial (and are entitled to join the same scheme you had at Imperial, either USS, SAUL or the NHSPS) you will keep the same record with the relevant scheme. All of your pension records will be kept together.

If there is longer than a month’s gap you will get a new record with the pension scheme, and the pension in relation to service at Imperial will be retained in the scheme. The amount of pension that you receive will not be affected by whether or not you have one or more records with the scheme.

Note for USS Members: If you were getting the match or paying AVCs  at Imperial it will not automatically continue. When you have joined your new employer you will need to log into MyUSS and re-elect for the extra contributions you want to pay.

If you are a Imperial employee who is currently contributing to a Imperial pension scheme and wish to opt out/withdraw from the scheme, please follow the guidance  to either complete the relevant opt out form and return it to pensions@imperial.ac.uk  or follow the link and complete the opt out process as advised below. 

If you are a new employee you should return your opt out form to your Departmental Administrator along with all other new starter paperwork.  Please note that it is a legal requirement for Imperial to auto-enrol you into the relevant scheme before actioning your opt-out request.

Please refer to your contract of employment to check which scheme you will be auto-enrolled into. NOTE: You cannot opt out of a pension scheme before your start date, or, if you are a casual worker until you have been auto-enrolled into a pension scheme.

• SAUL Start Opt out form - For new members submitting this form with their new starter checklist on day one (Option 1)
• Legal & General (SAUL Start) - This isn't for me - For members enrolled for less than 30 days & have been paid (Option 2 - you will need to opt out via the worksave choice link)
• Legal & General (SAUL Start) - This isn't for me - For members who have been enrolled for more than 30 days (Option 3 - you will need to opt out via manage your account, please note if you opt out after 30 days, you have no refund option)
• SAUL Care Opt out form - SAUL CARE Opt Out Form
• Notice to opt out or withdraw from USS form - USS Opt Out Form

Worksave choice is the enrolment management service for Legal & General - Your welcome communication from Legal & General will confirm your enrolment code, and opt out deadline date. You will need these to complete the opt out process.

Manage your account is your Legal & General online account - Your welcome pack from Legal & General will confirm your customer reference number, which you will need to register and opt out.

No. You will re-join the scheme on the current terms, regardless of the terms you previously had.

USS

Please log in to MyUSS (the online portal - https://www.uss.co.uk/login ) where you can complete an online form to make the nomination directly to the scheme

SAUL

Please download the SAUL Letter of Intent form (pdf), complete it and email it to pensions@imperial.ac.uk

NHS

Please download the Lump sum on death benefit (DB1) (pdf) and/or Partner Nomination (PN1) (pdf), complete them and email to pensions@imperial.ac.uk

Yes. You may choose to either join USS now that you are eligible for it, or if you prefer remain in SAUL. Please note that if you choose to join USS you cannot choose to switch back to SAUL in the future. Similarly, if you choose to remain in SAUL you cannot later choose to join USS, even if you are promoted in the future.

Yes. You may choose to join SAUL, however, the default position is that you will remain in USS. If you wish to switch to SAUL you must contact pensions@imperial.ac.uk and advise them of your decision. This will be effective from the date you changed job/grade. Once you have made your decision it cannot be reversed or changed at a later date.

Unfortunately, no. Financial Advice can only be given by a qualified individual and the College staff do not have the necessary qualifications. However, Imperial has a short-list of financial advisers who you can approach who are familiar with Imperial’s pension schemes. This can be found here.

Brexit is unlikely to directly affect your Imperial pension.

If you remain in the UK into retirement your pension will be paid as it would have done without Brexit.

Similarly, if you leave the UK (wherever you go to), your Imperial pension will not change. All of our pension schemes currently pay pensions to people around the world and will continue to do so after Brexit.

Also, anyone that leaves the UK may be able to transfer their pension earned in the UK to an overseas pension scheme as long as the new scheme is willing to accept a transfer in and the relevant tax authorities in that country are happy for the transfer to go ahead. The scheme would also need to be registered as a Qualifying Registered Overseas Pensions Scheme (QROPS) to avoid a costly tax penalty.

The process will depend upon how old you are and which pension scheme (or not in one of our schemes at all). You can find out all about your retirement options and the process on our retirement page.

Yes. You need to have been in one of our pension schemes for at least three months in order to receive a pension (time in the same scheme with a previous employer counts towards this too).

If you are only in the scheme for three months you will receive a refund of your contributions to the scheme.

If you are in the scheme for less than two years and did not use PensionSMART (see here for details) you will be able to choose to either take a refund of contributions, keep your pension in the scheme until you are ready to retire, or take a transfer to another pension scheme.

If you are in the scheme for less than two years and did use PensionSMART (see here for details) you will be able to choose to either to keep your pension in the scheme until you are ready to retire, or take a transfer to another pension scheme.  You cannot have a refund of contributions.

If you are in the scheme for more than two years you will be able to choose to either to keep your pension in the scheme until you are ready to retire, or take a transfer to another pension scheme.  You cannot have a refund of contributions.

Of course, the longer you are in one of our pension schemes the more pension you will have when you retire.

It is a way of saving for your pension: Instead of having pension contributions taken from your salary you agree to have a reduced salary and Imperial will pay higher contributions to your pension scheme. If you choose to do this, your pension will be the same but you will save on your National Insurance Contributions (because the salary on which they are calculated are lower – Imperial also saves on its National Insurance Contributions too).

As a member of USS or SAUL you are automatically enrolled into PensionSMART but you can opt-out and have pension contributions deducted directly from your salary instead.

You can opt-out of PensionSMART initially on joining Imperial, if you have a lifestyle change, or thereafter on the PensionSMART scheme anniversary of 1 December. 

If you wish to opt-out please email pensions@imperial.ac.uk who will make the necessary arrangements.

By opting-out of PensionSMART you will remain in the pension scheme but your net take home pay will reduce. This is because you will have to pay higher National Insurance Contributions as your basic salary will be higher (National Insurance Contributions are calculated on salary before deduction of pension contributions).

No. Your pension scheme provider (SAUL, USS or NHS) will be automatically informed after your final salary payment has been made. The pension scheme will then write to you, usually within three months of your official leaving date, setting out your options.

If a member of staff’s employment is terminated at any time and with immediate effect, Imperial will make a payment in lieu of notice (“Payment in Lieu”). This payment will be equal to the basic salary at the date of termination which the member of staff would have been entitled to receive during the notice period (or, if notice has already been given, during the remainder of the notice period). Payment in lieu will be subject to PAYE tax and NI deductions in the normal manner but it will not be pensionable.

Any contract which is terminated with immediate effect as a result of gross misconduct, breach of contract or right to work status being ceased, will be without pay in lieu of notice.