Civil service pension

[Acidburn]

Posting here for traffic.

I am considering a job in Civil Service (currently in private sector). I'm trying to calculate how it would work out financially. Does anyone know what percentage of my salary I would be paying into the pension? I read somewhere that its 5.45%, but not sure it's correct.

If anyone could help - that would be great.

Thanks

5.45 % if you earn between 22,600 and 54, 900 per annum, 4.6% if less. Employer contribution is roughly 27%

Details on each Civil Service pension schemes are here:
(I think the default new entrant scheme is Alpha, but there are some options)

www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/publications/pension-scheme-guides/

There was a pensions event recently, so there are a number of videos on the link below giving lots of info on the Civil Service pension schemes
(Note that schemes have changed over the years so take note when they mention scheme names - I have most of my pension on the good old fashioned gold plated scheme and am now contributing to the newer scheme, my older pension makes the majority of my future pension, but under the newer element I could retire earlier now)

www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/paw/live-lunch-catch-up-videos/

@spanieleyes @tommika thank you ladies! Are there any other deductions apart from tax and pension? Sorry if my question is silly, but thats all i pay in private sector. No student loan

I have the CS pension welcome pack from when I had a TUPE transfer to the CS being my parent organisation back in April. I can see if it has the answers to anything you want to know? Might be able to do pics?

Don't forget the pension will be far far better than anything you'll get in the private sector, regardless of what you'll pay in. Grab it with both hands!

Also - check if you will be in the CS pension. Some of the Agencies have their own pension funds.

All new entrants to the civil service since 2012 are on the Alpha scheme.

It's not a final salary pension though.

No other deductions other than NI and Tax unless you join the Civil Service Sports Council and that's £4.15 every month.

For alpha it’s 5.45% contribution and I think the benefit is 2.32% of salary to annual pension

I'm a G6 and contribute 7.35% and my employer contributes 23.5% I think!

I’m in Alpha and my contribution is 5.45%. The employer’s contribution is much higher though, and essentially amounts to an extra £8-10,000 a year which goes straight into my pension.

Alpha is a defined benefit “career average” pension, rather than the old-style “final salary pension”. It is still an awful lot better than any private sector pension.

Good luck.

[quote Acidburn]**@spanieleyes* @tommika* thank you ladies! Are there any other deductions apart from tax and pension? Sorry if my question is silly, but thats all i pay in private sector. No student loan[/quote]
What? How do you not pay your student loan?
I'm in the CS and yes that definitely would be automatically deducted from your pay...but I don't understand how it isn't already in the private sector, unless you don't earn enough?

automatic deductions would be tax, NI, pension and SL
If you joined a union or the CSSC you could choose to have those as deductions from your salary too or just do them as direct debits
Also things like if you took up the advance loan for season tickets/bike purchase or whatever, and possibly the childcare vouchers or whatever they have been replaced with but those are all optional

@thevassal no student loan because my parents paid for my education

My deductions on my latest payslip are:
Alpha pension 5.45%
NI
PAYE

My voluntary deductions are:
CS sports council membership £4.25
CS benevolent fund £2
DSRA lottery £10

I’m taking home approx 75% of my salary

I’m in the union, but that’s on direct debit £14.78
And I’m a member of the Officers Mess £4.98
Normally I would have lunch in the mess or the mess bar meals

My employers contribution (not deducted from my pay) shows this month as 27.1% (nearly 5 times as much as my contribution)

I know you didn’t ask this but it’s worth knowing, in alpha the amount is 1/42 of your average salary for every year you work, adjusted for the cost of living.

So if you work for 20 years, and have an average salary of 50k that £23,809 a year (but that will be adjusted for the cost of living, so a 50k salary now will be a higher number when you actually retire, but it will buy you the same amount of stuff).

The other thing to caution is that alpha starts paying from state retirement age unless you make extra contributions, the retirement age seems likely to go up. I think you can take it out earlier but you would obviously get less money.

@Rhayader

I know you didn’t ask this but it’s worth knowing, in alpha the amount is 1/42 of your average salary for every year you work, adjusted for the cost of living.

So if you work for 20 years, and have an average salary of 50k that £23,809 a year (but that will be adjusted for the cost of living, so a 50k salary now will be a higher number when you actually retire, but it will buy you the same amount of stuff).

The other thing to caution is that alpha starts paying from state retirement age unless you make extra contributions, the retirement age seems likely to go up. I think you can take it out earlier but you would obviously get less money.

And to add to Rhyhaders, I’ve been in for long enough to have multiple versions of the schemes

This makes it complicated in the sense that I have different pots with different rules, but the Pension scheme website gives calculators which I can use to work out my options
We get an annual statement, but I can use the calculator to work out different retirement age options and the balance between taking a lump sum and monthly pension.
The answer is that I can retire now, get a lower pension today which will increase later or stay put and get a much better pension at the ‘right’ age

Another point is that we commonly talk about our pension pot, which for most isn’t a true pension pot but is a contribution to the treasury for today’s pensions with a guarantee that we get our fair share later.
As opposed to a ‘normal’ private sector pension where you are typically investing into your own pension pot