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Leaving or retiring

Opting out and withdrawing

You can choose to leave USS once you've been enrolled.

Less than three months membership

If you've been a member of USS for less than three months, then you can opt out of the scheme and your election is effective from the next available payroll run.

You can find the form that you'll need to complete on the USS website.

Completed forms should be returned by email to pensions@york.ac.uk or in the internal mail to the Pensions Office, 1 Innovation Close.

You can read more about whether or not you'll be able to receive a refund of your contributions and what your benefits will be after leaving: your options and next steps (uss.co.uk).

Three months membership or more

If you've contributed to USS for three months or more, then USS refers to this as a withdrawal. In order to withdraw from USS, you need to give 28 days notice of your decision. Your contributions will cease from the end of the month in which that 28 day notice period expires.

You can find the form that you'll need to complete on the USS website.

Completed forms should be returned by email to pensions@york.ac.uk or in the internal mail to the Pensions Office, 1 Innovation Close.

You can read more about whether or not you'll be able to receive a refund of your contributions and what your benefits will be after leaving: your options and next steps (uss.co.uk)

Your USS benefits when you leave the University

If you are leaving the University for another institution that participates in the USS scheme, you can take your membership with you.

If your new employer doesn't participate in the USS scheme then you will need to check the USS leaver information for your options. If you have contributed through Pensions Extra, this can also affect whether or not you may receive a refund (uss.co.uk).

Retiring from the University

There are lots of different types of retirement, depending on the age and the circumstances in which you retire.

You can use USS' benefit modeller to see what your benefits might be in retirement. You'll need to log into the My USS member portal to access this.

Early retirement
  • This is where you retire before USS' normal retirement age.
  • The normal retirement age in USS is currently age 66, but will rise to 67 from 2028, and track any changes to the State Pension thereafter.
  • Reductions will be applied to your benefits for taking them earlier than normal retirement age.
  • The earliest age that you can take early retirement from is 55, but this will go up to 57 from April 2028.
Normal retirement
  • This is where you retire exactly at USS' normal retirement age.
  • The normal retirement age in USS is currently age 66, but will rise to 67 from 2028, and track any changes to the State Pension thereafter.
  • There are no reductions applied to your benefits for retiring early and no uplifts applied for retiring later than USS' normal retirement age.
Late retirement
  • This is where you retire after USS' normal retirement age.
  • The normal retirement age in USS is currently age 66, but will rise to 67 from 2028, and track any changes to the State Pension thereafter.
  • You cannot continue to contribute to the scheme once you reach age 75.
  • If you are still employed when you are reach age 75, your contributions will be automatically stopped and the Pensions Team will arrange for your USS benefits to come into payment.
  • This is the only circumstance in which you can draw your full USS pension and continue working.
Flexible retirement
  • This is where you draw part of pension, and continue to work on a reduced hours basis.
  • In order to take flexible retirement, you need to reduce your working hours by between 20% and 80%.
  • You can draw between 20% and 80% of your benefits. The amount of benefits you draw does not have to correspond with the amount you reduce your hours by.
  • You always require your employer's permission to take flexible retirement, as they need to be able to accommodate the change in your working hours.
  • You can take two "flexes". On the third "flex" you need to fully retire.
  • If you draw 80% of your benefits on the first flex, then no further benefits are payable to you until you fully retire.
  • Find out more about flexible retirement (uss.co.uk)
  • Explore the University's flexible working guidelines.
Ill health retirement
  • This is where your pension is brought into payment because you have an illness or condition that prevents you from undertaking your role for the long term.
  • Your employer must agree that you are incapable of undertaking your role.
  • There is no minimum age you need to be for an ill health retirement.
  • You will be required to undergo a medical assessment and your employer will need access to supporting medical information from your GP / consultant.
  • There are two levels of ill health retirement - partial and total. It is the USS Trustee, not you or your employer, who decides what level you may be awarded.
  • There are other qualifying criteria for ill health retirement.
  • Find out more about Ill health retirement (uss.co.uk)
Less than 12 months life expectancy
  • If you have been diagnosed with a life expectancy of less than twelve months, then you may be eligible to receive a single lump sum of your benefits in USS.
  • This payment can often be larger than the death-in-service lump sum.
  • The payment is only payable to the member. If the member dies before the payment is approved, the entitlement to it is lost.
  • Information on the serious ill health lump sum (PDF from uss).
  • Cases where a member is diagnosed with a life expectancy of less than 12 months should be dealt with extremely urgently.
  • If you or a member of your team has been diagnosed with a life expectancy of less than 12 months, the Pensions Team and HR should be alerted immediately: