Taking your deferred pension

Before you decide to retire, we recommend you get an estimate of how much your pension is likely to be on your expected retirement date.

You can use our 'My Pension' Portal to run an estimate through our Benefit Projectors.

If you are retiring due to ill-health, we won't be able to supply you with an estimate directly, but your employer will request one on your behalf and share this with you directly.

Please note:

• The calculations on the 'My Pension' portal will be an estimate and do not take into account annual increases in line with inflation
• The projections include reductions or enhancements based on the 85-year rule, if applicable.

The Retirement Process

Once you have decided on the date that you would like to retire, you will then need to request taking your pension benefits.

You can submit a payment request online through our 'My Pension' Portal.

To make a claim, you will need to: -

1. Login to the 'My Pension' Portal
2. Go to the 'Benefit Projectors' under the 'Pension Benefits' section
3. Select the 'Deferred Pension Payment' option
4. Choose to 'Begin Payment Request'

By beginning a payment request, you will receive an email informing you of the outstanding tasks to complete online. Please note that following this email, you will need to log out of the My Pension Portal and back in again to view the outstanding tasks to claim your pension benefits.

Please be careful not to make multiple payment requests as it may interfere and delay your online application.

You can track the progress of your application from your Dashboard by going to 'Your Tasks' and selecting to view the status of your outstanding requests under your To-Do List.

If you prefer not to use our 'My Pension' Portal to claim your deferred pension benefits, then please contact our Customer Relationship Team on 0300 200 1031 or via email at crtpensions@surreycc.gov.uk

For payment requests made online through the 'My Pension' Portal, your pension quotation will be available to you immediately.

Alternatively, a pension quotation will be calculated within 15 working days of your request. If we have your personal email address, we will securely email you regarding your pension quotation. Otherwise, it will be posted to your home address. Please allow 5 to 7 working days for postal delivery.

We would encourage you to add our email address of pensions@surreycc.info to your address book to support receipt of our emails.

You will need to complete and return your pension claim form to us, or submit your application online if eligible, as soon as possible. You will also need to verify your date of birth which can be done by providing a copy of your birth certificate, passport or driving licence. If the date of birth verification is held in a different name to the one we hold for you, we will also require evidence of a name change.

For audit and legal reasons, we won't be able to process your payment request unless they are completed in full and accurately.

If you need any assistance, or you have any questions, contact us before you complete your payment request. If there is missing or inaccurate information, we will be unable to process your pension, and this could delay your payment.

We aim to process your pension benefits into payment within 15 working days of receiving your pension claim form or online payment request. Once we receive your request for payment we will:

• Check to ensure it is fully complete
• Check your date of birth verification
• Calculate your final pension benefit
• Prepare a letter confirming payment

If anything is missing or inaccurate we will contact you for further information.

Once we have everything we need to pay your pension benefits, a letter will be issued to you confirming your final pension amount and the date you will receive payment.

If you are due to receive a lump sum we will issue a BACS payment, this can take up 3-5 working days to clear in your account.

Your monthly pension payment is paid on the last Thursday of each month, with the exception of December where the payment date may be earlier due to public holidays. Our ability to get you onto the next pension payroll is influenced by the payroll deadlines and our normal monthly payment cycle. If we pass the payroll deadline, we will pay any arrears to you at the next available payment date, they will be backdated to your retirement date, this may mean that your first pension payment includes arrears.

This is because we will run the payroll the week before payment, and we need time to check through the information you send to us and perform a final calculation of pension amounts.

Considering the above pension payment cycles please plan your finances carefully to cover the period between leaving employment and your first pension payment.