Northern Pension

[Davieez]

I have been reading on the northern site about them offering a final salary pension. Is this information up to date and do they still offer new starters this kind of pension? Also can somebody explain to me how it works? I don’t currently have a pension and this is something that I very much want to start contributing towards if and when I start my employment with them.

Rewards and Benefits
Our people enjoy free travel, a final salary pension scheme and so much more.
We're proud of the wide range of rewards and benefits you'll enjoy if and when you become part of our team. We've listed them below and think you'll be impressed

 

[Paul 1980]

I am interested to find out too. I am a new starter and have had a letter saying I am paying £17 a week which is hardly anything. And doesn't mention anything about how much Northern are contributing.

This amount will go up £6 as I have just passed my rules and due a pay rise. I estimate it to be me contributing approx 4%.
I am therefore as we speak filling in the BRASS paperwork to increase my pension.

 

[C001]

I’m sure this is the same as where I work ... you automatically start putting into it .. you can’t up it or reduce it... you can also only pay max of 40 years into it, but you can pay into brass which is just as good .. wack as much as you can into brass and it reduces your tax aswell, think roughly every tenner you put in it only costs you around 7.50

 

[baz962]

I’m sure this is the same as where I work ... you automatically start putting into it .. you can’t up it or reduce it... you can also only pay max of 40 years into it, but you can pay into brass which is just as good .. wack as much as you can into brass and it reduces your tax aswell, think roughly every tenner you put in it only costs you around 7.50

If you are a 40% tax payer it costs 6quid , if a 20% payer it's 8 quid. I would always ask a pension professional. People keep saying whack as much in as you can as it's tax free. But when you retire and claim the pension , you might pay tax on it then.

 

[greatkingrat]

You are allowed to take 25% of your total pot tax free. That is the big advantage of BRASS - unless you save a very large amount, you will likely be able to take the entire BRASS pot tax free on retirement. So if you don't particularly need the money now, you are gaining 20% or 40% plus any investment gains.

 

[BloominMan]

If you are a 40% tax payer it costs 6quid , if a 20% payer it's 8 quid. I would always ask a pension professional. People keep saying whack as much in as you can as it's tax free. But when you retire and claim the pension , you might pay tax on it then.

Yes.

I may be wrong but I'm sure it's tax free for the first 30k?

 

[greatkingrat]

30k tax-free is for redundancy payments, nothing to do with pensions.

 

[C J Snarzell]

I'm very interested in setting up a new pension once I finally land a TOC job.

I already have a police pension that is now frozen until I'm 60. Obviously, if I start up another pension, the two will run side by side in my sunshine years.

Everyone has different agenders about their future plans for retirement and I'm one of these people who intends to work as long as I can as I enjoy the routine and responsibility of doing a job. That said, I believe the national retirement age will more than likely increase to 70 by the 2030s because people are living longer and generally as a society we still have financial commitments in later years because of mortgages or paying for children in higher education. One chap who I used to work with went through two divorces and didn't have the option to retire at a younger age because of financial set backs he had endured which left him working well into his 60s.

I do believe train drivers have to retire at a certain age but is there a bench mark age for other roles in the rail industry? I was in Manchester a couple of months ago and I remember passing a Northern station employee who looked like he was pushing 70 (although sadly some people do look slightly older than their age!!!).

Maybe someone can advise me on this.

C J

 

[baz962]

I'm very interested in setting up a new pension once I finally land a TOC job.

I already have a police pension that is now frozen until I'm 60. Obviously, if I start up another pension, the two will run side by side in my sunshine years.

Everyone has different agenders about their future plans for retirement and I'm one of these people who intends to work as long as I can as I enjoy the routine and responsibility of doing a job. That said, I believe the national retirement age will more than likely increase to 70 by the 2030s because people are living longer and generally as a society we still have financial commitments in later years because of mortgages or paying for children in higher education. One chap who I used to work with went through two divorces and didn't have the option to retire at a younger age because of financial set backs he had endured which left him working well into his 60s.

I do believe train drivers have to retire at a certain age but is there a bench mark age for other roles in the rail industry? I was in Manchester a couple of months ago and I remember passing a Northern station employee who looked like he was pushing 70 (although sadly some people do look slightly older than their age!!!).

Maybe someone can advise me on this.

C J

You may be able to transfer the police pension into the rail one. We have ex police that did .

 

[C J Snarzell]

baz962

Thanks for that.

C J

 

[Llama]

There's no specific retirement age any more. We have a couple of drivers in their 70s.

 

[skip1690]

You may be able to transfer the police pension into the rail one. We have ex police that did .

I know that public sector pensions used to be transferable, but I'm pretty sure that the Govt put a stop to that in April 2016 when they changed all the schemes to worse versions of themselves. They were frightened that people would leave their careers and take their pensions with them, rendering the schemes not viable, hence why now, you can leave your career, but you must defer your pension.

 

[baz962]

I know that public sector pensions used to be transferable, but I'm pretty sure that the Govt put a stop to that in April 2016 when they changed all the schemes to worse versions of themselves. They were frightened that people would leave their careers and take their pensions with them, rendering the schemes not viable, hence why now, you can leave your career, but you must defer your pension.

Possibly , but I'm pretty sure the one lad that definitely did , started with us in early 2017 . Could be wrong though.

 

[C J Snarzell]

I know there was a speculated structure in the police pension world that saw young cops or mid service cops basically paying into the pension pot and this was funding the monthly pensions of their retired predecessors. There could very well be truth to the rumour of the pension not being transferable given all the changes that have been implemented since the Tom Winsor report of 2012.

 

[Louby]

I know there was a speculated structure in the police pension world that saw young cops or mid service cops basically paying into the pension pot and this was funding the monthly pensions of their retired predecessors. There could very well be truth to the rumour of the pension not being transferable given all the changes that have been implemented since the Tom Winsor report of 2012.

Northern do let you transfer
it's capped at 100k,
any more and you can't transfer over