Deferred Civil Service Pension

Whatsit_Allabout

Hi - wondering if anyone has intimate knowledge of the civil service classic pension scheme as were not getting much sense from Capita.

My better half took redundancy from the civil service in 2006 after 18 yrs and became a deferred member of the classic scheme. The retirement modeller available under MyCSP showed options around lump sum and annual pension (commutation rate ~12, but probably not relevant here). Following a cancer diagnosis last year she applied for and was awarded early payment of preserved pension - basically her full pension payable now with no actuarial reduction. She has just received her pension quote which is about what she expected £-wise, but with no options around lump sum vs annual pension. A single figure is set for each element. After a loooong call with Capita, no-one seemed clear whether the absence of choice over lump sum and annual payment was due to rules applied in the case of early payment, or whether in fact there she should have options to flex but this has been somehow inadvertently omitted.

Any ideas? I've spent a couple of hours looking at various scheme docs but they are really impenetrable. Thx.

hugheskevi

You can only exchange pension for a higher than standard lump sum in classic if you were in service after 30 September 2007. This has nothing to do with the ill-health pension payment, it is a standard rule.

There is a reference to the Northern Ireland scheme here - it is the same as the rest of the UK in this regard.

Additional tax-free Lump Sum

If you were in pensionable service after 30 September 2007, you will be able to choose to give up part of your pension for an additional Lump Sum.

Whatsit_Allabout

Thank you hugheskevi for the swift response and link 👍️. Much appreciated. From this it's very clear that there's no entitlement to a higher lump sum in exchange for a lower annual pension (very odd that the MyCSP modeller showed this as possible given they knew employment start and end dates, final salary etc).

What's less clear is whether there's an option for lower than standards (3 x initial pension) lump sum in exchange for a higher annual pension. I'm guessing not since the retirement quote doesn't give that choice but would like to make sure we've explored all options before committing.

Whatsit_Allabout

Now found this which seems to suggest that a reduced lump sum for a higher annual pension - reverse commutation - should be offered as an option, but wasn't. Back on to Capita I suppose…