CARE pension scheme transfers and salary

mj73

Hi All,

I'm considering transferring one previous CARE pension scheme into another current CARE pension scheme, however, my pensionable salary in my former scheme was lower than that of my current scheme, so my questions are:

1. Will the lower salary from my earlier employment be taken into account for calculations on my current scheme if transferred in, thereby lowering my career average salary with the new scheme and the amount I'll get overall?

2. The scheme rules say that the transferred in credit from the old pension will be adjusted each year using the same method or amount it would have been in the original scheme. Does this mean that effectively I would have 2 separate 'pots' within the one pension which would be increasing at different rates each year?

Thanks in advance for any help.

hugheskevi

1. Will the lower salary from my earlier employment be taken into account for calculations on my current scheme if transferred in, thereby lowering my career average salary with the new scheme and the amount I'll get overall?

No. What transfers is the accrued pension amount, for example, £3,000 per year in retirement.

2. The scheme rules say that the transferred in credit from the old pension will be adjusted each year using the same method or amount it would have been in the original scheme. Does this mean that effectively I would have 2 separate 'pots' within the one pension which would be increasing at different rates each year?

Yes. The transferred-in bit is ring-fenced and increases at the same revaluation rate as your previous scheme, but in all other ways is under the new scheme's rules.

You accrue new pension under the new scheme's rules which increases in line with the new scheme's rules.