Pension Reform FAQ

If you are in a Final Salary scheme (Classic, Classic Plus or Premium) you will cease to accrue service towards your pension, but your pension will maintain its Final Salary link.

You will also retain the scheme pension age of 60 for your accrued benefits. You will have two parts to your pension when you retire; your RCPS benefits and your Alpha benefits.

In Alpha the normal pension age is aligned with your individual State Pension Age. Your Classic benefits will still have a normal pension age of 60.

With regard to switching, if your earlier RCPS benefits were deferred, it is our understanding that if you join the alpha scheme within 5 years (of the switch or opt out date) your former benefits would be automatically aggregated. This means that the final salary link would be re-established.

If you switch or opt back into the alpha scheme after 5 years (of the switch or opt out date) aggregation would not be possible at all. In which case, former final salary benefits would continue to increase in line with the relevant inflationary increase(s).

You cannot opt back into the RCPS after the scheme has closed.

No. All active scheme members will be enrolled in the Alpha scheme. You can choose to switch to the Civil Service Partnership Scheme (managed by Legal and General) or opt out.

If you are in Nuvos you won’t accrue any more Nuvos pension, what you have accrued will continue to be increased for inflation annually (by the rate of CPI).

Your Nuvos benefits will still have a normal scheme pension age of 65.

Administration of deferred (also called preserved) pensions and pensions in payment will move from JSS to the Civil Service Pension Scheme administrator.

No, the scheme manager for the CSPS (Alpha) is Cabinet Office, who contract MyCSP to administer the scheme. Administration is anticipated to change to Capita at the end of 2025.

The RCPS is ‘by analogy’ to the Principal Civil Service Pension scheme (PCSPS) which means that it mirrors the rules of the current PCSPS. Alpha is a completely separate scheme to the PCSPS.

Yes. JSS and your employer will tell you in advance when the move to Alpha is happening. Currently we expect this happen in the later part of 2026.

Yes, potentially. If you partially retired before the RCPS moves over your partial retirement pension payments would continue. When/if you are moved to Alpha you will begin to accrue an Alpha pension.

But also, if you didn’t partially retire pre-reform you would still be able to partially retire once reform takes place, it is our understanding that you could access the pension benefits relating to the pre-reform scheme.

Yes, everyone will be moved to Alpha regardless of age or proximity to their normal scheme pension age.

The main changes are that the Normal Scheme Pension Age for Alpha aligns to your individual State Pension Age.

The accrual rate for Alpha is 2.32%, whereas Nuvos is 2.30%. Alpha, like Nuvos, is a career average scheme. Alpha is not a Final Salary scheme.

For example, if someone’s pensionable earnings for one scheme year (scheme years run from 1 April to 31  March) were £30K, the pension accrued for that year (not taking into account any inflationary increase) would be £696 per annum £30,000 x 2.32%).

The Alpha Guide on the Civil Service Pension - external linkwebsite is a good place to start if you need more detail of how Alpha works alongside the features of the scheme you moved from.

The changes are part of the Government's wider changes to public service pensions to ensure that the costs of providing pensions are fairer for the public purse and public service pension schemes are more aligned to the State Pension Age.

These changes stem from Lord Hutton's review of public service pensions in 2011 and the subsequent passing of the Public Service Pension Act 2013. Many public service pension schemes were reformed in 2015 with full reform completed in 2022. The RCPS has had a long standing requirement to implement these reforms.

The best of 2 times final pay (less any lump sum paid already), or 5 times pension less any payments made.

It is our understanding that whilst you remain in what will become the reformed scheme, any added years contracts already set up, will continue. So if you continued as a contributing member of the reformed scheme until your 60th birthday (assuming no change in hours or on any unpaid leave), your full amount of Classic / Premium or Classic Plus added years would still be purchased by that date.