The way your pension benefits are calculated are dependent on whether they’re in the career average or final salary scheme.

Career average scheme

Your career average benefits are based on 1/57th of your pensionable earnings each year (including overtime) plus index linking. This amount is banked each year with your eventual pension made up of all the amounts that have been banked each year.

To understand more on how your pension is made it up then visit calculating benefits in our retirement planning section. To see how much you’ve accumulated in your pension then check your Benefit Statement, which you can access at any time.

Final salary Scheme

If you’ve final salary benefits (in the Normal Pension Age (NPA) 60 section) the calculation is:

• A pension calculated by multiplying your service by your average salary and then dividing by 80; and
• A lump sum equal to three times your pension.
• A pension calculated by multiplying your service by your average salary and then dividing by 60.

Members who have reached 45 years of reckonable service in the final salary scheme were previously exempt from making pension contributions. From 1 April 2022 you’ll have been able pay contributions under the career average scheme as you’ll be building up new pension benefits in this scheme. 

If you haven’t been paying contributions since joining the career average scheme please contact your employer, unless, of course, you have opted-out of the scheme.