What is the NHS AVC?
- An AVC plan is a separate pot of money you build up alongside your NHS pension, that aims to give you extra retirement benefits.
- If you pay tax, you benefit from tax savings as your regular contributions are taken from your pay before tax. Tax savings will depend on your individual circumstances and rules can also change.
- If you don’t pay tax, you won’t have been benefiting from tax savings on your pension contributions up to 5 April 2024. The Government has introduced arrangements for individuals who are not paying tax on their earnings to claim tax relief on their employee contributions to the scheme. This applies to contributions paid from 6 April 2024 onwards. You will need to contact HMRC to arrange this tax rebate. Claims will be processed in the tax year following the year claim, i.e. claims for the current tax year would be processed by HMRC in the next tax year.
- You can pay AVC contributions regularly or as a lump sum. You can also change your contributions at any time online.
- AVCs are invested in funds, so they have the potential to grow over time. It also means the value of your fund can go down as well as up so you might get back less than you put in. When it comes to choosing where to invest your AVC pot, there’s no need to feel overwhelmed. The 'Your investment options' section of this site will take you through the options available to you.
- The size of your AVC pot will depend on how much you pay in, how long you pay in for, the impact of costs, charges and how well the fund(s) you invest in perform.
- You have a number of options to choose from when you decide to take money from your AVC pot, which you can currently do from age 55 (57 from 6 April 2028, unless you have a protected pension age), or possibly earlier if you're in ill health.
- Your AVC pot is a separate pot of money, which means you don’t have to take it at the same time as your NHS pension scheme benefits.
- If you pass away before you’re eligible to take your money, we’ll pay the value as a lump sum. This will normally be to your spouse, civil partner, dependants or your legal representative.
For more information, please read your Key Features Document in the 'Applying for an AVC plan' section of this site.
Prudential is an international financial services company, and long established provider of life insurance and pensions in the UK. We’ve been helping people save money for over 170 years.
Prudential has been helping NHS pension scheme members save for their retirement since 2001.
You can use your AVCs to buy life cover from Prudential. For more information, please read your Key Features Document in the 'Applying for an AVC plan' section of this site.
Your NHS pension scheme has other options to increase your retirement benefits. Visit their website for more information.
More information
NHS AVC Tax Savings
One reason you might choose to save for your retirement with AVCs, alongside your main scheme pension, is the tax savings they offer.
How NHS AVCs could help you
It’s important to plan for your future. You may need more money than you think when you retire.
Flexible paying in, flexible paying out
Life isn’t always as simple as we’d like it to be. Some things take us by surprise and those surprises can cost money, so flexibility is important when it comes to saving for the future.
"Prudential" is a trading name of Prudential Distribution Limited. Prudential Distribution Limited is registered in Scotland. Registered Office at 5 Central Way, Kildean Business Park, Stirling, FK8 1FT. Registered number SC212640. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Prudential Distribution Limited is part of the same corporate group as the Prudential Assurance Company Limited. The Prudential Assurance Company Limited and Prudential Distribution Limited are direct/indirect subsidiaries of M&G plc, a company incorporated in the United Kingdom. These companies are not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc, a company whose principal place of business is in the United States of America or Prudential plc, an international group incorporated in the United Kingdom.