Pensions at Leeds

As a member of our staff you have access to excellent pension benefits. After pay, pension is arguably the most valuable benefit for us all, even though retirement may seem a long way off. Think about how important your pay is to you today; that's how important your pension will be to you when you retire.

You might want to join a pension scheme because:

  • it’s an income for life when you retire;
  • the pension will increase annually in line with inflation (with the exception of the DC Plan where you can choose the type of pension you want);
  • you get a tax free cash sum on retirement;
  • there are early retirement options;
  • you get automatic life assurance cover based on your current salary;
  • there’ll be a pension for your spouse or dependant and/or children on your death (with the exception of the DC Plan where you can choose whether or not you want to include this benefit);
  • there are ill health early retirement benefits if you become too ill to work;
  • the University pays significant employer contributions; 
  • you’ll  be able to increase scheme benefits by paying extra contributions (additional voluntary contributions (AVCs));
  • you might be able to transfer benefits from previous pension schemes to increase the benefits you get.

The cost to you isn’t as much as you might think:

  • You get tax relief at your highest rate on your employee contribution;
  • If you contribute through the salary sacrifice (Pensions+) route your national insurance contributions are reduced even more.

In addition, you might also receive the basic state pension; more details can be found on the gov.uk website at https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/overview.

Your retirement might seem like a long way off, but you should also consider the cover the pension scheme provides for your family if anything happened to you.