NHS Pension AVCs

New customer looking to apply?

Are you a customer looking to change your existing AVC contributions?

Using your Online Service

There are other ways to get information about your policy. For most of our products, you can manage your policy online by logging in or registering for your Online Service. Registration is easy and only takes five minutes - all you need is your policy number. There are a small number of products not currently available online, and these are listed on the registration page.

It’s never too early or too late to think about the difference you could make to your lifestyle in retirement. In addition to your NHS pension scheme, Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) could be just the thing to help your pension savings go further.

Watch the videos below to find out how having an AVC plan alongside your NHS pension scheme could help you.

AVCs are investments and the value of your fund can go down as well as up, so you might get back less than you put in.

What is the NHS AVC?

A quick introduction to AVCs and how they work

NHS AVC Tax savings

The impact of tax savings on your AVC plan

How NHS AVCs could help you

How AVCs could fit into your plans for the future

Flexible paying in, flexible paying out

Choose how you build and access your AVC pot

We have tools to help you estimate the tax you may pay based on your earnings and how much monthly pension contributions could add up to in retirement. 

Income tax calculator

This calculator will provide an estimate of how much income tax and National Insurance you may pay, based on your earnings. You can also use it to find out how much tax relief you could get on your pension contributions.

Retirement contributions calculator

This calculator shows you how much your monthly pension contributions could add up to in retirement. The figures are only a guide based on the details you enter.

1. Understand the different investment options available to you

Default

(If available)                              

If you’d rather not make your own investment choice this option could be for you. The default investment fund may be a single fund or a lifestyle option.

Lifestyle strategy

(if available)

A ready-made investment strategy managed by us, for you. There are different lifestyle options to choose from to suit your retirement plans, but all aim to protect the value of your investment from large fluctuations as you approach retirement.

Manage your own

 

If you’re comfortable choosing your own funds, you can choose up to 10 from the risk rated funds available. This could be a good choice if you’re happy being in charge of your investments and fully understand the risks involved.

2. Find out more to help you decide

  • It's important you understand these options so that you're invested in a way that suits your retirement plans. 
     
  • Check your Fund Guide and watch our Understanding your investment options video for more information. Or if you want information on a particular fund, click on the fund name in your Fund Guide to go to the fund factsheet.

These options aren’t a recommendation from Prudential. If you’re still unsure, you should speak to your financial adviser if you have one. If you don't have one, you can search for an independent financial adviser in your area by visiting unbiased.co.uk

Your Fund Guide

This guide provides key information on the funds we offer for your AVC scheme.

3. Choose your investment option

  • You need to choose an investment option before you apply. But don't worry, you can change how you’re invested at any time using our online service

AVCs are investments and the value of your fund can go down as well as up, so you might get back less than you put in.

Keep track of your investments online 

Our online service allows you to keep track and manage your investments whenever you like. By registering, you'll be able to

  • check your plan value
  • see how your funds are performing
  • monitor your contributions and transactions
  • change how you're invested
  • change your AVC contributions
  • change your selected retirement age
  • change your personal details
  • contact us securely

Registering also means going paperless, though there are some documents not available online yet, so we’ll continue to send you those in the post while we work on expanding our online documents. If you would still prefer paper then you can switch this back on by updating your preferences.

You can register for our Online Service once you've received your confirmation email or letter confirming your application has been processed.

Applying for an AVC plan

It takes approximately 15 minutes to apply online.

 To apply, you'll need

  • your payslip and
  • to have chosen an investment option mentioned above
  • to confirm your employer and payroll providers name and address along with your pay frequency – if the information you provide is incorrect it may delay us setting up your plan.

 You'll need to call us if

  • you want to exceed the £60,000 annual allowance or
  • you change employer in the future.

You need to read the documents below before you apply. They have important information about the charges, costs, risks and benefits of the product and the funds to help you make a decision.

To download and save and/or print these documents for future reference, you should ensure that you have a PDF file reader program installed - Adobe has a free reader.

Apply for an AVC plan

Our online form is secure. Once you start this application, any data you enter will be temporarily stored by Prudential and its business partners. The data will be deleted if you don't submit the form.

Once we've processed your application, we'll send an email to you (if you’ve provided an email to us), otherwise we’ll post a letter to you with details of the first contribution from your salary. After you've got your confirmation email or letter you can register to manage your AVC plan online.

To pay by cheque please fill out this application form, and send it back to us, along with your cheque.

If you are paying by cheque, we use the date the cheque was received as the date of contribution.  If you are sending a cheque payment close to the tax year end and want the contribution to be treated for tax relief purposes in that same tax year, we recommend sending by recorded delivery to confirm the date we receive it. Please remember to allow time for postage and processing.

Once you’ve applied for an AVC plan, our AVC support team will be available to help you with any general enquiries. Please call

Lines are open Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 6:00pm.

We might record your call for training and quality purposes. To find out more about how we use your personal data please visit pru.co.uk/mydata

You can also send us a secure message once you register for our online service.

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