@loverintruth Yes you can - you can make Additional Voluntary Contributions which increases accrual from 1/54 to 1/45. However my understanding is these additional contribution is quite expensive (hundreds each month).
@loverintruth Your employer will likely have pension information sessions. These will really help you understand your scheme. My friend is in Civil Service and in the Civil Service scheme (Defined Benefit) there are add-ons to the pension you can pay for like making the retirement age lower. Definitely worth understanding all those pros and cons. It might be that a SIPP is the best answer and it won't hurt to set one up now while you research.
@loverintruth I think you’ll probably be able to pay in more. I’m in the NHS CARE pension scheme which is a 1/54th set up through SSPA (pretty sure they do police and fire fighter pensions too) and you can buy an extra £6700 ish per year db pension in increments of £250 spread over 20 years or in lump sums.
Last time I checked for an extra £250 per year, every year after you retire it was around £2k lump sum.
@heyheyheynoname Im 99% sure the police is a DB scheme like most public sector jobs, meaning yours and your employers contributions mean nothing to the final pot.
@jesusisworthy Does the police pension have a faster accrual rate or additional pension buy in options? The Teachers Pension Scheme has an option to increase your accrual rate to 1/45th of your annual salary.
As your pension payments go out before tax, you'd most likely get a better return on investment than investing in a SIPP.
@loverintruth Well it certainly wouldn't hurt opening up a small SIPP for yourself. I have a defined benefit pension through my employer but also have a vanguard SIPP that I currently throw £25 in a month.
The majority of my money goes into my ISA but once I increase my salary I fully intend to find both accounts more.
@loverintruth dont set up a SIPP, your DB pension is amazing and rare to get nowadays. just have trust in the system because if your pension collapses it'll probably mean all of civilisation in the western world has collapsed so you'll have far more things to worry about than your SIPP!
@karirose It's not really about the state pension 'collapsing' entirely. The age at which we're able to access it is being ratcheted up now and we're facing demographic issues in the not too distant future which means it cannot continue to be funded in its current form. It will likely be severely curtailed to the point where it's useless.
@loverintruth so do i unfortunately but im thinking i might be dead by then. my future kids however, good luck - because they'll need it!
also the other thing you can do is increase your contributions towards your workplace pension if youre looking to increase your pension pot. that way you can leave the hassle of figuring out what to invest in to their team of experts.
