USS pension scheme

USS is for the Academic and Research job family as well as staff in the Professional, Technical, Operational and Learning grades, Level 4 and above, and Senior Teaching Fellow grade and above for Teaching grades. #

Imperial automatically enters all eligible staff into the scheme, as required by law.

In a Defined Benefit Scheme, the employer agrees to provide a specified, fixed, annual pension payment and/or lump sum at retirement.

The amount is calculated using a formula based on a member's salary and length of service. It usually increases with inflation and is guaranteed until death.

In a Defined Contribution scheme, members have individual savings pots that both they and their employer pay into. At retirement, members draw their pension savings from this fund, which consists of all the employer and employee contributions paid over the years, plus investment returns earned by investing the scheme in, for example, stocks and shares.

In this scheme, employees can choose whether they wish to withdraw all their retirement savings as a lump sum or opt for alternative options such as an annuity or drawdown. An annuity is a fixed sum of money paid to someone each year, typically for the rest of his or her life.

The annuity option provides a guaranteed regular retirement income from your individual savings pot. Drawdown involves keeping your individual savings pot invested but regularly drawing an income from it rather than purchasing an annuity.

Defined Benefit Scheme

In a Defined Benefit Scheme, the employer agrees to provide a specified, fixed, annual pension payment and/or lump sum at retirement. The amount is calculated using a formula based on a member's salary and length of service. It usually increases with inflation and is guaranteed until death.

Defined Contribution Scheme

In a Defined Contribution scheme, members have individual savings pots that they and their employer pay into. At retirement, members draw their pension savings from this fund, which consists of all the employer and employee contributions paid over the years, plus investment returns earned by investing the scheme in, for example, stocks and shares.

In this scheme, employees can choose whether to withdraw all their retirement savings as a lump sum or opt for alternative options such as an annuity or drawdown. An annuity is a fixed sum paid to someone each year, typically for the rest of his or her life.

The annuity option provides a guaranteed regular retirement income from your individual savings pot. Drawdown involves keeping your individual savings pot invested but regularly drawing an income from it rather than purchasing an annuity.

My USS is the online service for managing your USS savings and benefits. Once you have registered, you will be able to: -

• Nominate who you would like to receive the lump sum benefit in the event of your death.
• View the defined benefit pension you have built up in USS Retirement Income Builder.
• Review your USS Investment Builder fund choice.s
• You can view your Investment Builder contributions and fund value (note that this is only the Investment Builder contributions, not Income Builder).
• Review and amend your Target Retirement Age from the default position of your Normal Pension Age.
• Top up your pension savings with additional contributions.
• You may also wish to consider transferring any pension you have earned before joining USS into your Investment Builder account.
• View your digital Annual Member Statements.

ACCESS MY USS

If you are in the job family, Level 4 and above, and are contributing to the USS pension scheme and wish to opt out, please complete the opt-out form and return it to pensions@imperial.ac.uk  

You can refer to your contract of employment to check which scheme you are registered in or will be auto-enrolled into. NOTE: You cannot opt out of a pension scheme before your start date, or, if you are a casual worker, until you have been auto-enrolled into a pension scheme.

• Notice to opt out or withdraw from USS form - USS Opt Out Form