Retirement

Start thinking about how much you’ll need at retirement and what lifestyle you’d like to live. Visit the PLSA’s Retirement Living Standards website to see examples of three different levels of income, and what kind of lifestyle you could have in retirement.

Get retirement statements for all your pensions to work out what you might receive and when. Don’t forget to include your State Pension (and check your State Pension age). If you have lost contact with an old pension scheme, the government run a free Pension Tracing Service.

Your pension with the Plan gives you a guaranteed income from when you retire. However, you may want to take your pension more flexibly. If so, you'll need to transfer the value of your pension to another arrangement, making sure you take financial advice first. There is more information on transferring below, and make sure to protect yourself from scams.

The NTL Pension Plan is a final salary scheme, which means that your pension is based on a certain proportion of your final pensionable salary when you stopped paying into the Plan.

Your pension from the Plan will be calculated using:

• Your accrual rate, which is 1/60th
• Your salary at the date you left the Plan
• The number of years you were in the Plan (including months).

Your retirement age under the Plan is 60. Under the current legislation, you can retire once you reach age 55 (unless you are entitled to certain protected benefits within the Plan or you are not in good health).

If you are over age 55 but under age 60, you can retire early and take your benefits but they will reduced to take into account their early payment and therefore the longer expected period your pension will be paid for.

The Government has confirmed it will increase the minimum retirement age to 57 from 2028, alongside planned increases in the State Pension age to 67. The minimum retirement age will then remain ten years below State Pension age.

For more detailed information about the benefits offered by the NTL Pension Plan visit the Documents page and refer to the Plan booklet.

You can transfer your Plan benefits to an alternative pension arrangement. Contact XPS Administration to request a transfer value quotation.

We recommend taking independent financial advice before you transfer your benefits. If your benefits are worth more than £30,000, you must take advice according to the law. To find an independent financial adviser visit the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) register or using MoneyHelper. 

We've set out useful information about pension scams on our Scams page, highlighting action you can take to protect your savings if you're thinking about transferring.

If you want to take your pension, please contact XPS Administration for a benefits quotation.

You can find their contact details at the bottom of the page.

The Annual and Lifetime Allowances can restrict how much some people can save into their pension whilst still benefiting from tax relief. Not many people are affected by these restrictions, but they could catch you by surprise, especially if you transfer any savings from a Defined Benefit pension to a Defined Contribution arrangement or take some of your Defined Contribution benefits but want to carry on saving. You can read more information about these allowances on the Government's website.

If you die before retiring, a pension may be payable to your dependants, if they qualify under the Plan Rules. This pension would be 50% of your pension at your date of leaving the scheme, revalued to the date that you die. Your dependants may also receive a refund of any voluntary contributions you paid into the Plan.

If you need to update personal information such as your name, marital status, or home address, you will need to update your details with XPS Administration. Their contact details are at the bottom of this page.

If you want to change, or update the people you’ve nominated to receive benefits in the event of your death, please send a completed Nomination Form to XPS.