On 6 April 2016 a new ‘single-tier’ State pension was introduced. This replaced the existing Basic State Pension and Additional State Pension. From that date schemes could no longer contract-out of the Additional State Pension.

Contracting-out of the Additional State Pension allowed members to pay lower National Insurance contributions and in return the Scheme provided benefits equivalent to those that would have been provided through the Additional State Pension. These changes do not affect benefits already accrued in the Scheme benefits, or the benefits that members will build up in the Scheme in the future.