Civil Service pensions Classic and Alpha conundrum

Vidyasagar

As per your 3rd para above.

If i opt out of classic for 28 days and then join nuvos, you say my NPA will be raised to 65.is that only for the new nuvos accruals. Will i be able to draw my deferred classic pension at 60? Or is the NPA for all that part of classic plus nuvos raised to 65 as i am getting CPI for the classic part instead of final salary link?

hugheskevi

If i opt out of classic for 28 days and then join nuvos, you say my NPA will be raised to 65.is that only for the new nuvos accruals.

Yes, only for future accrual.

Will i be able to draw my deferred classic pension at 60?

Yes, if you use partial retirement.

Or is the NPA for all that part of classic plus nuvos raised to 65 as i am getting CPI for the classic part instead of final salary link?

No.

Vidyasagar

Thanks for all this hugheskevi. It makes it so clear.

I checked my classic again. The letter states that my classic ends in Feb 2019. Dont know why i had April 2019in mind. This is my plan.

In dec 2018 i will opt out of classic for 31 days to be safe.

I will rejoin classic and at the end of Feb 2019 i will request to join Nuvos. When joining nuvos i will decline the option for a final salary link and request CPI benefits for the deferred classic.

At 60 i will claim my classic pension and go for partial retirement.

Will claim nuvos at 65.

Am i doing anything drasctically wrong?

Turned_out_nice.

Keep a check on your payslips as I was set to change on Feb 1st this year but February and March pay showed deductions for classic.
If April's is the same I best get in contact with MyCSP.

hugheskevi

I think you might be a bit confused between nuvos and alpha.

In dec 2018 i will opt out of classic for 31 days to be safe.

I will rejoin classic and at the end of Feb 2019 i will request to join Nuvos. When joining nuvos i will decline the option for a final salary link and request CPI benefits for the deferred classic.

You will rejoin Nuvos, presumably in January 2019 (and choose to decline salary link for classic benefits), then in February 2019 you will automatically move to alpha (no choice about that, other than to move to Partnership or opt-out).

So you end up with deferred classic pension increasing by CPI, a trivial amount of nuvos, and alpha for the period after February 2019.

Vidyasagar

Ok thanks hugheskevi

greamec

Hi all, Please could someone help me do some sums.

Dazed_and_confused

Roughly 50% (it might be slightly less but 5%/year is usually mentioned).

And it looks as though it will be fixed at that rate for at least 5 years with inflation increases only starting when you are 55.

hugheskevi

I have a banked classic pension of about 9,000 (Now on alpha since 2015). If I reduced my hours by 20% taking partial retirement at 50 (10 years early) How much would my pension reduce by?

Pension would reduce from £9,000 p/a to £5,733 p/a (36.3% reduction) and the automatic lump sum would reduce from £27,000 to £19,656 (27.2%). Source: Scheme calculator

Note the pension would be subject to abatement if your salary plus pension after partial retirement is higher than your salary prior to partial retirement.

The pension would not receive any increase until you reach age 55, at which point the pension would be increased to reflect the change in CPI from when you took the pension at age 50. Annual inflation increases would apply thereafter.

Note all actuarial factors are changing in April so the figures above will change at that point.

greamec

Thank you both,

Another question :

What is better given that retirement age is 67. Pay in to finish early at 65 (-2 years) or make extra contributions to my alpha pension?


I seems to me that you pension reduces due to the number of years early you take it only, so is it better to lower your hours as much as possible to increase the benefits of partial retirement? ie 30% over 20% if possible.
Rs