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.

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

You will join Alpha.

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)

It is not possible to choose to change schemes. Unless you resigned from your current RCPS employer and joined an organisation that would enrol you in the Alpha scheme.

If you are in Nuvos you won’t accrue any more Nuvos pension, what you have accrued will continue to get inflationary increases applied annually.

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

The only change to you will be that the administration of your pension changes from JSS Pensions Administration to the new administrator, new payroll department.

No, Alpha is run by the Civil Service Pensions (MyCSP)

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, MyCSP manage PCSPS and Alpha.

Yes, JSS will let you know when we have the information, the date is still to be finalised. It is unlikely to be until 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, our expectation is 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 mirrors the State Pension Age, the accrual rate is 2.32% (a career average 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%).

Alpha is similar to the current RCPS Nuvos scheme which is a career average scheme. The main difference is that the Alpha scheme pension age is aligned to State Pension age. The accrual rate is 2.32% compared to Nuvos which is 2.3%.

The Alpha Guide on the Civil Service Pension - external linkwebsite s 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 by increasing the amount members pay towards the cost of pension and reducing the number of pension administrators. These changes stem from Lord Hutton's review of public service pensions in 2011.

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.