The retirement process
Learn about the process now to ensure a smooth retirement.
The earliest that you can take your pension, without it being reduced, is your normal retirement age. For most members normal retirement age is 65. For some members who joined the Fund before 1 October 1987, normal retirement age is 60 for parts of their pension.
If you want to retire before these normal retirement ages, you’ll need to contact us.
Before you choose to retire you should think about:
-
How much you need to live off
- How much you’ll get from all your pensions, including your State Pension
- When you can claim your State Pension
Use the retirement planning pages to help you with this. You can find out how much you might get at retirement and what your options are at any time.
12-16 months before retirement
6-12 months before retirement
What you should do
-
Review the advice and guidance you’ve received and make a decision
- Let your manager know you’re planning to retire. You’ll need to tell them in writing that you want to resign from Unilever. Check how much notice you need to give. Generally speaking, this will be:
- 1 calendar month for WL1 employees
- 3 calendar months for WL2 and above employees
3-6 months before retirement
What happens
- Unilever HR will contact the Unilever Pensions Team to let them know you are retiring. The Pensions Team will prepare and post you a retirement pack.
What you should do
- Send your completed forms from the retirement pack to the Unilever Pensions Team. This needs to be done as soon as possible to make sure your pension can be paid on time.
2-3 months before retirement
What happens
-
The Unilever Pensions Team will process your forms and set up your pension payments
- Your DC Investing Plan pot will be used for the option you’ve chosen
0-2 months before retirement
What happens
- You’ll get a letter confirming your pension is starting and when we’ll pay it
- You can register to use the online portal to see your payslips, P60s and update your personal details. We’ll let you know how to register for the online portal when you retire
At retirement
Additional planning resources
Use
www.unileverbenefitchoices.com for an estimate of your DB Career Average and any Final Salary pension you may have, and the value of your DC Investing Plan savings
Use PlanViewer for savings in the DC Investing Plan, including viewing the current value
Go to the retirement options page to view your options
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