Retirement options

When you take your Defined Benefit benefits from the Schemes, you can:

• Take your full annual Scheme pension, paid monthly

OR

• Take a tax-free cash lump sum (capped at £268,275) and a smaller annual Scheme pension, paid monthly

If you’ve paid Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs), you can take some or all of your tax-free cash lump sum from your AVCs up to a certain limit. This results in less of a reduction to your annual pension.

If the value of all your pension benefits, across all your pension savings, is less than £30,000, you may be eligible to take a one-off payment of all your Scheme benefits.

When can you retire?

You could have a normal retirement age ranging from 60 to 65, depending on when you were in service and which category of the Bradford & Bingley Scheme or the NRAM Pension Scheme you built up benefits in. If you are unsure of your normal retirement age please contact us.

We’ll automatically send you a retirement quote and pack four months before your normal retirement date.

Retiring early

You can currently start taking your pension benefits at any time from age 55 (this is increasing to age 57 from April 2028 – transitional rules apply to those born between  6 April 1971 and 5 April 1973).

If you choose to take your pension earlier than your normal retirement age, it will be reduced to allow for the fact that it will be paid to you for longer.

How much pension you need to give up for each year that you retire early can change over time because the reduction factors are affected by assumptions such as life expectancy and what’s currently happening in the economy. This means that if you get an early retirement quote, it can change from one year to the next.

Retiring due to ill-health

If you’re ill it may be possible to take your benefits before minimum retirement age under certain circumstances, please contact us for more information.

Retiring late

You can start taking your pension later than your normal retirement age.

If you choose to start taking your pension later than your normal retirement age, it will be increased to allow for the fact that it will be paid to you for a shorter amount of time.

How much extra pension you receive for each year that you retire late can change over time because the factors are affected by assumptions such as life expectancy and what’s currently happening in the economy. This means that if you get a late retirement quote, it can change from one year to the next.

Help with your options

If you are unsure of what is best for your circumstances you may wish to speak to a financial adviser. If you need help finding an adviser please visit the Money Helper website.