Civil service pension

[FetchMeMyTank]

I’m due to start a new job with the civil service (DfE) in a couple of months. I have a choice of whether to join alpha or partnership pension. I think alpha is more suited to me but wondered if anyone had any experience of either and could shed any light - in layman’s terms - as to which might be ‘better’. I’ve read the various civil service guides and done a bit of digging online but would welcome any real life experience of either scheme.

I’m in my late 40s. Looking to stay in civil service til retirement age so got about 20 years potential service there. I have 2 other work place pensions and have 12 years worth of teachers pension. I think what I want (and what alpha seems to offer) is something as close to the teachers career average salary pension as possible. Is that what alpha is or have I totally misunderstood it?

There is plenty of info on the website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk
Basically yes, Alpha is a defined benefit career average scheme. Partnership is defined contribution. I don't know anyone who has chosen Partnership!!

Thanks @emsyj37

Take the pension that will give you the most benefit as quickly as possible, the way the Civil Service keeps merging departments, you need as much as you can get, are you going to invest your other pensions or leave them where they are?

Yes alpha is a much much better pension for almost everyone (those who plan to stay only a short time may do better from partnership, but even that would be rare). It’s defined benefit, if you pay in for 20 years you’d end up with a pension of around 45% of your average salary over that time, payable from 68 until death. Partnership is just a pot that you can spend on an annuity or draw down, I can’t imagine any circumstances in which it would outperform alpha over 20 years from age 40.

Thanks all, that’s really helpful. Much appreciated

Hi everyone,

I have also recently started working for the CS. I am 35 and see myself working at the CS until I retire.

Under the Alpha scheme would I have the option to retire at 55? And what pension would I be entitled to?

@Asvan no, you can’t retire at 55 in Alpha if you are 35. You can claim your alpha pension from your state pension age - 10 years so I think that will be 58 for you based on your age.

Your pension will be worth 2.3% of your salary for each year you’ve been in the scheme. So if you are 35 and planning to work to 68, you’d get around 75% of your average salary in retirement.

It will be a lot less if you choose to retire at 58 because you’ll have ten years fewer contributions and they will reduce your payment to account for the fact that they will be paying it longer. But it may still be enough to live on, depending on your salary and circumstances. And there are options like partial retirement where you go part time and get some pension to top it up too, if you prefer.

There is a calculator on the civil service pensions website which will let you get estimates for your specific circumstances if you need a better estimate than this rough one.