We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide
Civil service pension
DieHard
Posts: 168 Forumite
I received a letter from The Civil Service pension department telling me that they refunded me some contributions that they should not have done because I had a previous length of service.
They said they would make up the contributions because it was their error but they wanted to know if I wanted to keep them separate or aggregate the two periods. On the letter it laid out the figures and if I aggregated them the lump sum and weekly amount at retirement age worked out at less. I thought this must be a mistake since it would be putting more money in but I have just rang them and they said that was correct, the person I spoke to could not explain why in my particular case.
Separate to this missing payment, the letter allowed me to work out the amounts from my two main periods of service something I have asked them to do before but they were unwilling to do in the past probably because it raises questions like this.
The whole thing seems really strange I have two main periods of service. One period which was from 2003-2006 (premium pension) and another from 2008 until 2015 (premium again) then I went onto the Alpha pension from 2015 until now. The second period in the civil service I have worked from 2008 to date.
The period from 2003-2006 is worth more than the period from 2008-2015 even though it was only three years as opposed to seven and the alpha pension which I have only been paying into for three years is nearly worth as much as both premium pension periods combined.
Does anyone with experience with civil service pensions have any idea why it would be worked out this way? It doesn't make sense at all.
How can a smaller period of time be worth more than when I was paying in for a longer period. Also, how can adding contributions results in the pension reducing?
They said they would make up the contributions because it was their error but they wanted to know if I wanted to keep them separate or aggregate the two periods. On the letter it laid out the figures and if I aggregated them the lump sum and weekly amount at retirement age worked out at less. I thought this must be a mistake since it would be putting more money in but I have just rang them and they said that was correct, the person I spoke to could not explain why in my particular case.
Separate to this missing payment, the letter allowed me to work out the amounts from my two main periods of service something I have asked them to do before but they were unwilling to do in the past probably because it raises questions like this.
The whole thing seems really strange I have two main periods of service. One period which was from 2003-2006 (premium pension) and another from 2008 until 2015 (premium again) then I went onto the Alpha pension from 2015 until now. The second period in the civil service I have worked from 2008 to date.
The period from 2003-2006 is worth more than the period from 2008-2015 even though it was only three years as opposed to seven and the alpha pension which I have only been paying into for three years is nearly worth as much as both premium pension periods combined.
Does anyone with experience with civil service pensions have any idea why it would be worked out this way? It doesn't make sense at all.
How can a smaller period of time be worth more than when I was paying in for a longer period. Also, how can adding contributions results in the pension reducing?
0
Comments
-
Were you on a much higher salary in 2003 to 2006?
If so, there is your explanation - if you aggregate, than ALL of your final salary service will be calculated on your final pensionable pay as at your date of leaving.0 -
no I was on a lower salary, also it is preserved I think so it is calculated on my salary now, not what it was then. Premium was a final salary scheme not a salary when you left scheme. I am looking at my pension statement now and it has my pensionable earnings as my wage now not what it was then, even though it stopped in 2015 so if my salary was taken into account from when I left the scheme it would have what my salary was in 2015 not what it is now.
I took the letter the same way as the girl I spoke to in that I thought it would reduce my overall pension in terms of what it was worth now but if you took what it was worth then (obviously the amount has went up between 2006 until now) then it would be worth more. The whole thing is quite confusing to be honest.
The letter does not state what the revised figure relates to as in is it compared to what it was worth then or what it is worth now, she told me it would be what it is worth now.0 -
Im a bit confused about what you are saying. Is this a pension quote you have requested as you are conaudering retirement, is this an annual statement or is this paperwork sent due to redundancy?
How old are you and were you ever part time?Don't listen to me, I'm no expert!0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.3K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.4K Spending & Discounts
- 247.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 604K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.4K Life & Family
- 261.5K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards