Completely confused by pension

[Pootleplum]

I have a pension estimated to be £10k per year from Civil Service when I retire and a pension estimated to be £5k per year from current job.

I am 45, estimated pension age is 60.

So I have another 15 years to go at least and hoping to stay with current employer.

How do I work out my over all pension pot?

Is the £5k a year one also a defined benefit scheme or is it defined contribution?

For defined benefit schemes like the civil service one, you don’t have a pot, just a promise to pay you a certain amount based on your salary and service. To test the value of it against the lifetime allowance they use a sum which is 20 x pension plus any lump sum you’re entitled to. That will give you a notional ‘pot’ value for any defined benefit pensions.

For defined contribution schemes it’s just the value of the pit you’ve built up.

Oh I see! Yes it's a defined benefit.

So in that case how do I boost it? Or if it's salary related maybe I can't without earning more.

You can pay in Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) for defined benefit pensions, but check out the details for yours and how much you'd need to add to make a sizeable difference to the expected payout.

My defined benefit scheme also has varying levels of employee contributions. The default setting is 10% of salary but you can lower to 5% or raise to 15% (and a couple of increments in between). This might also be an option for you.

We have an online calculator that lets us play with numbers for an estimated impact depending on what you want to change. Chances are your pension provider may have similar.

Thank you for that info and exactly the same question I was pondering.

Yes, defined contribution schemes will have options to pay more - speak to your pension provider to find out what they are.

Sorry, that should say defined benefit schemes, not defined contribution.

I’m feeling a bit happier now I can compare my notional pot to other pensions. Thank you!