Drastic reduction in CSP pension Gross amount

Sax1959

In May my Gross figure was £1940 per month, in June it was reduced to £1559, my future gross payment for July will be £595. 

I had assumed that it was connected to the start of my state pension, however that would only affect the net figure.

I have contacted CSP, I wanted to know if anyone could shed some light on this and has it happened to any one else ?

On-the-coast

When did your state pension start…
and had you set up “profiling” which pays higher pension before sp kicks in?

Sax1959

Hi, It started in May 23, I should receive the first payment jun 20. 

No, the profiling is not an option on Classic.

Sax1959

1 Week later nothing from My CSP reductions in Gross figure add up to £1688 thus far. I feel like I’m in an alternative reality and nightmare.

Silvertabby

This all sounds very odd - was your pension brought into payment as soon as you retired, or had your benefits been preserved for some time?

Based on your original £1,930 per month, that equates to a substantial pension of £23,160 per year.  How does that figure compare with your retirement estimate or deferred benefit statements?  If you don't have these, how long did you do in the Civil Service and what was your pensionable pay on leaving?

The most obvious reason for such a huge drop in your pension payments would be that your original calculations were way off - but I find that hard to believe that such a difference (£23,160 to £7,140) wouldn't have been picked up at the time, either by CSPS or yourself.

Confirmation of your length of service and final pensionable pay (just round figures will do) will at least give me an idea of your actual pension benefits. But, at the end of the day, I'm afraid that only CSPS will be able to give you a 100% answer to your conundrum.  

xylophone

Is the case that you have been receiving your CS pension since age 60?

Had you been employed as a civil servant up to that point?

Silvertabby

Curious that OP hasn't returned - would love to know what the answer was.

Marcon

Sax1959 said:

In May my Gross figure was £1940 per month, in June it was reduced to £1559, my future gross payment for July will be £595. 

I had assumed that it was connected to the start of my state pension, however that would only affect the net figure.

I have contacted CSP, I wanted to know if anyone could shed some light on this and has it happened to any one else ?

Got any pre-1980 service? Seems a little unlikely to account for such a major drop, but...

Silvertabby said:

Curious that OP hasn't returned - would love to know what the answer was.

Probably still waiting for CSP to reply!

Silvertabby

Marcon said:

Sax1959 said:

In May my Gross figure was £1940 per month, in June it was reduced to £1559, my future gross payment for July will be £595. 

I had assumed that it was connected to the start of my state pension, however that would only affect the net figure.

I have contacted CSP, I wanted to know if anyone could shed some light on this and has it happened to any one else ?

Got any pre-1980 service? Seems a little unlikely to account for such a major drop, but...

Silvertabby said:

Curious that OP hasn't returned - would love to know what the answer was.

Probably still waiting for CSP to reply!

I would have expected MyCSP to have written to OP at the time the pension was reduced, explaining why.

Pure guesswork, but the closest thing I've seen to this almost (but didn't!) happen.....

I was doing the final checks for a pension being put into payment ..... and the trainee administrator had switched the two main figures.  He had input the annual pension in the payroll system as the much larger tax free cash amount.  

sheramber

The reduction in the Civil Service Classic pension when state pension is received  is due to National Insurance Modification due to being contracted out. 

Silvertabby

sheramber said:

The reduction in the Civil Service Classic pension when state pension is received  is due to National Insurance Modification due to being contracted out. 

Not to this extent!  I used to do these calculations  for the LGPS, and the average monthly reduction was less than £3.  

The NI Modification calculation only applies to pre April 1980 service.

The COD (contracted out deductions) calculation relates to 1978 to 2016 service, but is only used in the calculation of the State pension.  ie, no reductions to the contracted out occupational pension.

A circa £200 drop in the CS nett pay at SPA could be explained by the reduction in tax code applied in order to account for the tax due from the State pension.  But OP has already said that these are gross figures and, in any case, the drop is way more than £200.