Planning your retirement
If you are about to retire or considering retiring in the near future, you may wish to start thinking about all of the income that you will receive in retirement not just your Local Government Pension Scheme pension.
When planning your retirement you will need to take account of any occupational pensions you have, your state pension and other state benefits, any investments and other earnings that you may have.
Pre retirement planning
If you are retiring soon, there are Pre-retirement courses available to help you plan your retirement. These courses cover subjects such as:
- claiming what you're entitled to in benefits
- managing your money in retirement
- legal advice on wills, inheritance tax, power of attorney
- maintaining a healthy lifestyle
- activities in retirement.
For further details of the pre-retirement courses available to you, please contact your employer.
Things to consider when you retire
State pension forecast
A state pension forecast tells you the amount of state pension you may get based on your National Insurance contributions so far and the amount you may get when you claim it. More details on how to obtain a state pension forecast can be found on the Directgov website at the following web address:
www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/StatePensionforecast/DG_10014008
Tracing pension rights
The Pension Tracing Service (PTS) is a free service which aims to help people find pension schemes they have “lost touch” with. This may have happened because of a change in employment or the name of the company may have changed. If you have lost touch with a previous employer or pension provider and you need to use this tracing service you can contact them:
In writing: Pension Tracing Service
The Pension Service
Tyneview Park
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1BA.
tel: 0845 6002 537 (Textphone 0845 3000 169) 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and they will complete the trace over the telephone.
Website: www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/Companyandpersonalpensions/DG_10027189