KNOWLEDGE CENTRE

Pensions

State pension forecast

You can get a forecast from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of how much pension you are likely to receive from the State. This can usually be done at any time in one of these ways:

  • By post:
    Send a stamped addressed envelope and a request for Form BR19 to:
    Future Pension Centre
    The Pension Service
    Tyneview Park
    Whitley Road
    Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    NE98 1BA
  • By phone:
    Call the Future Pension Service on 0845 300 0168. Lines are open from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm on Saturday. Calls are charged at local rates (calls from mobiles or cable networks may be charged at different rates). A textphone service is also available on 0845 300 0169
  • Online:
    Log onto the DWP website and follow the instructions.

You could consider taking out a personal pension. If you do, you need to remember that your employer will not pay anything into it for you although you will get tax relief from the Government. So, for every £80 you pay into your personal pension the Government adds £20 (if you are a basic rate tax payer currently taxed at 20%) so a total of £100 goes into your pension.

Personal pensions are provided by insurance companies, high street banks, building societies and pensions companies.

You can take out a personal pension even if you are a member of the KPS.

NEST is a brand new workplace pension scheme being set up by the Government to help people save for their retirement. It’s low cost and is designed to give people an easy way to start building up a pot of money for their retirement.

NEST aims to explain pensions in an easy-to-understand way and make pensions clearer – doing away with lots of the jargon that many of us just don’t understand.

To find out more about NEST go to www.nestpensions.org.uk

You can also find a copy of the NEST phrasebook in our Library