Your Pension Choices Upon Joining

A number of different pensions schemes exist which University staff may become members of, based on different criteria.

Your Pension Choices - For Employees on grades UE01 - UE05

Comparison of Benefits between the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) and the University of Edinburgh Staff Benefits Scheme (SBS) – for Grades UE01 – UE05

	NEST	SBS
Type of Scheme	Defined Contribution	Defined Benefit
Main Scheme Benefit	Members build up a retirement savings pot throughout their membership. Up to 25% of the total fund value can be taken as cash at retirement, the remainder is used to purchase an income.	An annual income equal to 1/75^th of pay for each year of membership plus a lump sum of 3/75^th of pay for each year of membership.
Risks	Contributions are invested in stocks and shares on the member’s behalf. The value of the member’s retirement pot can go down as well as up.	Retirement benefits are not calculated on the value of the member’s contributions therefore there is much less risk to the member.
Life Cover	No additional life cover is provided. The value of the member’s pot would be paid out upon death of the member.*	A lump sum of 3 x annual salary is paid upon the death of the member along with an income for a spouse/beneficiary.
Additional benefits	Members can pay into their NEST account from any UK employer.	Serious ill health cover is provided as part of membership.
Cost of membership	Members pay 5% of salary, the employer pays 3% of salary.	Members pay 9.1% of salary, the employer pays 25.8% of salary
Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)	Members can pay AVCs into their NEST account at any time.	Members can pay AVCs to the Scheme’s money purchase arrangement with Standard Life.

*From July 2024 the University has secured separate life cover for members of NEST at no extra cost to the member. A lump sum equal to three times the member’s basic annual salary will be paid upon the death of a member whilst in University employment

NEST Member Guide

SBS Member Guide

Your Pension Choices - For Employees on grades UE06 - UE10

Your Pension Choices UE06-UE10

Pension Scheme Application Form

You no longer need to print and fill in this form by hand unless you do not have access to a PC. You can send your completed form by email to the address stated on the form. There is no need to physically sign the form as long as you are sending it for action from your UoE email account (i.e. firstname.surname@ed.ac.uk).

This article was published on 2024-07-01