At a Glance
Key features of the 2015 Scheme:
- A Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) pension scheme. For each Scheme Year (1 April to 31 March) as an active member, you will build a pension equal to 1/55.3 of your Pensionable Earnings for that year, which is then added to your pension account and subsequently revalued each year until you retire.
- You will be able to commute part (up to 25%) of your pension at a rate of 1:12; therefore for every £1 of pension given up you receive a lump sum of £12.
- The rate of revaluation applied to your pension account at the end of each Scheme Year will be the movement in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) + 1.25%.
- Your Normal Pension Age (NPA) is 60, but your Normal Minimum Pension Age (NMPA) is 55.
- If you decide to retire with the immediate payment of your pension after your NMPA and before your NPA, your 2015 Scheme benefits will be actuarially reduced to reflect the early payment.
- There is NO maximum period of service. If you decide to continue in service beyond your NPA, there will be an actuarial uplift applied to your pension to account for the late payment.
- If you should die whilst serving as an active member, a lump sum death grant of 3 times your annualised final pay is payable.
- A survivor's pension will be automatically paid to your spouse or civil partner for their lifetime, although a certain criteria will need to be met for such a pension to be paid to a partner who is neither a spouse nor a civil partner.
- Eligible children under the age of 23 may also qualify for a pension.
- If you leave or opt out of the Scheme, without taking a pension or a refund of contributions, your benefits will be deferred and will become payable from your State Pension Age (SPA), which may change in the future. If paid early on request, an actuarial reduction will be applied, unless you are deemed to be permanently medically unfit for regular employment, in which case there will be no actuarial reduction applied.
- Purchasing 'added pension' is currently limited to £6,500 per year. The limit may be altered by HM Treasury (HMT). (Note that there is NO formal Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) arrangement, but you do have the option to make contributions to a separate personal pension plan).