Taking a holiday from 'buying back years'

[TRipley]

As a public service employee who is currently buying back years to retire at 60 on full pension - is it possible to take a break from buying back years for a year or two and then re-join? (obviously with consequence of retiring slightly later).

Is there a calculator that can be used to determine what the effect on such a break has on extending the retirement age?

Also - is it wise it take a break from buying back years to overpay a mortgage? I realise this is dependant on personal circumstances but is there an obvious advantage (tax break etc) to keep buying back years rather than over-paying a mortgage?

Thanks,

 

[Complainer]

I'm not an expert here, but I think there could be a bit problem with the rate used to buy back service. To the best of my knowledge, there is no option for a 'holiday', so if you drop out and rejoin the scheme later, you will be doing so at the rate that applies at the time of rejoining, which may well be considerably higher than the rate you are paying now.

Check it out carefully with your HR dept, and consider the possibility that the rules may also have changed by the time you come to rejoin - perhaps the scheme for buying back years could even be closed to new entrants completely.