Technical terms
Annual Allowance
Annual Allowance is the maximum growth in the value of your pension savings each year that can benefit from tax relief. The Annual Allowance applies to your entire pension savings with UK registered pension schemes. So, if you have any other pension savings apart from your Civil Service pension, you must also take those into account to determine if you have a tax charge to pay.
Annual Benefit Statement (ABS)
ABSs provide members with a summary of their Civil Service pension benefits, up to the date of the statement each year.
CSAVCS
The Civil Service Additional Voluntary Contribution Scheme is a defined contribution scheme where you pay contributions to the pension provider for investment in a fund or selection of funds. You can then use the accumulated investment fund to provide you with an income and/or lump sum in retirement.
Deferred member
Someone who has left classic plus, having qualified for a pension, but has not yet claimed their pension.
Defined benefit
A defined benefit pension scheme provides a pension based on set criteria, usually related to the members’ length of service and/or pensionable earnings (including any transferred in pension benefits).
Dependant child
Any child who is dependent on you and who is:
under 17 for the classic component, 18 for the premium;
under 23 and receiving full-time education or training, or is permanently incapacitated and unable to earn a living. Dependency means that you are providing financial support to the child.
Earnings cap
The maximum level of pay we will use when working out pension benefits and contributions. It applies to classic plus members who joined the Scheme on or after 1 June 1989.
Final pensionable earnings
These are the earnings on which we base your classic plus pension. Your final pensionable earnings will be whichever is the best of:
your last 12 months’ pensionable earnings; or
your highest pensionable earnings in any of the last four complete scheme years; or
your highest average pensionable earnings in any period of three complete scheme years during the last 13 years ending on your last day of service.
A scheme year is the period from 1 April to 31 March. We will take into account rises in the cost of living when making the comparison.
Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP)
The Civil Service pension scheme was contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) prior to 6 April 2016. If you were a member of the Civil Service pension scheme between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997, GMP is the minimum amount that the scheme must provide for you at State Pension age (SPA).
The Scheme Administrator
As the Scheme Administrator, we hold your pension records and administer your pension on your employer’s behalf, including working out and arranging pension payments.
Partnership Pension Account
The partnership pension account is a defined contribution pension arrangement. Members of the partnership scheme do not have to contribute but their employer will.
Pension age
This is the earliest age at which you can choose to receive immediate payment of your classic plus pension without reduction. (In most cases, this is 60).
Pensionable earnings
All earnings that could count towards your pension. They can include non-cash items, for example, uniforms or accommodation.
Pensionable service
Pensionable service is service in employment which qualifies you for classic plus benefits.
Preserved benefits
We will hold (preserve) the pension benefits you have built up if you leave the scheme before pension age and have decided not to transfer them to another pension scheme. (We will only do this is you have built up more than two years’ qualifying service).
Public Sector Transfer Club
A group of defined benefit occupational pension schemes, mainly within the public sector. The Club assists easier movement of staff between its members by providing broadly equivalent benefits when they transfer.
Qualifying service
Generally, this is the number of years and days you have been a member of the scheme, and it qualifies you for certain benefits.
Reckonable service
The service that counts towards a pension. Part- time service counts on the basis of the hours you have worked. Unpaid absences such as strike days or career breaks do not count towards your pension.
Scheme actuary
The scheme actuary provides actuarial advice to the scheme.
State pension age
The age at which you can receive your State pension.
State Second Pension S2P
The additional State pension on top of the basic State Pension (previously known as the State Earnings-Related Pension – SERPS). The amount you get depends on your National Insurance contributions. Please note – this ended on 5 April 2016. You can find out more about the State Pension here: State Pension - GOV.UK
Transfer value
The value of accumulated pension rights within a pension scheme that may be used to transfer benefits from that scheme to another pension scheme.
