A guide to your Annual Benefit Statement 2017 premium members
Contents About this guide What is your Annual Benefit Statement? Updating your details Your benefits at a glance Your personal details Your death benefit nominees Your scheme membership Your pension and tax Your premium benefits Your additional premium benefits Your projected benefits Glossary Further information 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 14 16 18 20 Page 2
About this guide This guide is for members of premium. Your Annual Benefit Statement is an important document. It is a summary of your Civil Service pension benefits up to the 31 March. It includes your current death benefit nominee(s) and how much death benefit they could receive in the event of your death in service. You should ensure that your employer holds up-to-date personal details for you, for example, your current salary or home address. If you think you need to update your personal information, you should contact your employer. This guide accompanies your Annual Benefit Statement and we hope it helps you to get the most out of it. If you have any further queries that are not covered in this guide, further resources are available on the dedicated Annual Benefit Statement pages on our website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/annual-benefit-statement Page 3
What is your Annual Benefit Statement? What is an Annual Benefit Statement? Your Annual Benefit Statement is a summary of your Civil Service pension benefits up to 31 March 2017. We produce your Annual Benefit Statement using information provided by your employer. Your statement includes your current death benefit nominee(s) and how much death benefit they could receive in the event of your death in service. It contains your personal details and important information about tax rules that could affect your benefits. You should ensure that your employer holds up-to-date personal details for you, for example, your current home address. Who receives an Annual Benefit Statement? To receive an Annual Benefit Statement, you must meet the following eligibility criteria: 1. You are an active member or an active pensioner member; or 2. You were an active member or active pensioner member of either the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme or alpha on 31 March 2017. Your employer must also have provided a record of pension contributions (or pensionable earnings for members of alpha or nuvos) for the 2016/17 scheme year. We will issue all statements (excluding those for secure members) directly to members home addresses. This complies with the Disclosure of Information Regulations for Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes, which requires that information is sent to your last known postal address. PERSONAL From: MyCSP Civil Service Ltd Pensions PO Box 2017 Liverpool L69 2BU UK Date: Your Annual Benefit Statement Dear Mrs Other Page 1 Tel: Tel (Intl): Opening hours: Our ref: xxxx xxx xxxx +xxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxx <Member No.> Every year, we ll send you a statement that shows the pension benefits you ve built up so far in the Civil Service Pension arrangements, based on the latest information supplied by your employer. Reading your statement is an important step in understanding your pension benefits and how they are calculated. It is key that you read it in conjunction with the Important notes section at the end. But please remember, this statement is an illustration and not a guaranteed statement of entitlement. More information is available online visit www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/abs2016 The Civil Service Pensions website is full of information to help you understand your benefits and make the most of the options available to you. There s a section dedicated to Annual Benefit Statements where you ll find the answers to frequently asked questions and a step-by-step guide that walks you through your statement. Do you have a query? Please read your statement carefully and check the information against your own records to make sure it s correct. We have produced this statement using the latest information that we hold. If you have a query about or have recently changed your personal details (eg date of birth, National Insurance number, pensionable earnings, address, marital status) or if you think you re in the wrong pension scheme please contact your employer through the normal route. If something needs changing, they will update your HR records and provide details to update your pension record. If your query is about pension information such as reckonable service, date joined, transfer-in history or additional benefits you have purchased, please email your query to ABS2016@MyCSP.co.uk or post it to the above address. Don t forget to include your name, date of birth, and Our ref from the start of this letter. Please note: If you ve sent back a query or correction on your last statement, it may not have been possible to make your changes before this statement was produced. We have to work with your employer to confirm your information and any changes that you ve asked us to make, and this can take some time. Once they have confirmed your details, we ll send you a corrected statement, or a response to your query. Yours sincerely, RUPERT MCNEIL For and on behalf of Civil Service Pensions www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk Important: All of the figures shown on your Annual Benefit Statement are subject to rounding. Page 4
Updating your details Your Annual Benefit Statement (ABS) gives you an opportunity to check your pension information. If you have a query about your ABS, please read the Frequently Asked Questions in the dedicated ABS section on our website. www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/annual-benefit-statement If you still have a question about your ABS, you can do the following. If your query is about your personal details, (for example marital status, date of birth, National Insurance, salary or address) contact your employer, who will update your pension record If your query is about your pension scheme information (for example your employment history, reckonable service, date joined, transfer in history, extra benefits) please let us know, by either: Emailing your query to absqueries@mycsp.co.uk @ Writing to us at: Civil Service Pensions PO Box 2017 Liverpool L69 2BU (Please include copies of any supporting documentation when contacting us.) Calling us on: 0300 123 6666 Page 5
Your benefits at a glance Pension benefits can only be paid in line with the rules of the scheme. Your statement doesn t override them. You can read the rules of the scheme on the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/about-us/scheme-rules Your annual premium pension This is calculated based on your latest full-time equivalent salary and any pensionable allowances, bonuses and reckonable service we hold at the date of the statement. This also includes any transferred in service, any Added Years and any Added Pension you ve bought. It does not include any separate, preserved benefits you may have in the scheme from an earlier period of employment. Your premium benefits are payable unreduced from your premium Normal Pension Age, usually age 60. The figure shown also takes into account any pension debits that apply to you as a result of a Pension Sharing Order or Scheme Pays request if this has been fully implemented. How your pension is worked out Your reckonable service is multiplied by your pensionable earnings and then divided by 60. This gives your pension amount. Your death in service lump sum This is the amount payable to your nominees if you die in service. This is worked out as 3 x your final pensionable pay on the date of your death in service. The premium scheme guide (on the Civil Service Pensions website) contains information on how premium survivor benefits are worked out. www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/premium Your total survivor s pension Your premium survivor s pension can be paid to your spouse, civil partner, or partner. For more information about premium, please read the following guide on our website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/publications To find out what happens to your pension if you are getting divorced, read the following guide: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/what-toexpect/ if-you-are-getting-divorced Page 6
Your benefits at a glance Statement as at: 31 March 2017 The value of your benefits in this statement are worked out up to the statement date shown above. Your annual premium pension: XX You ll be able to claim your full premium pension from your normal pension age, usually age 60 These amounts include any: These amounts do not include any: Transferred in service or pension. Previous periods of service you have opted to aggregate on re-joining. Added pension you ve bought. Added years you ve bought. Pension debits that have been applied from pension sharing orders. Benefits from previous periods of service, unless you opted to aggregate your previous benefits on re-joining. Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs). Your AVC provider will send you details of these separately. Pension earmarking orders. These are applied when you take your benefits. You can see a detailed breakdown of what is included in these figures in the Your benefits section at the back of this statement. Your death in service lump sum: XX This amount has been worked out as 3.0 times XX which is the actual pensionable earnings we held for you at the date of the statement. If you are part-time, the figure shown will be the actual rate of pensionable earnings, not your full-time equivalent. The actual lump sum amount your nominee or estate could receive will be based on your final pay on the date of your death. Your total survivor's annual pension: XX Every effort has been made to ensure that this statement is accurate. It is based on the latest data that is held, but it is not a guarantee of your entitlement. Page 7
Your personal details Name: Anne N Other Date of birth: 25 January 1975 National Insurance number: XXXXXXXXX Your personal details This section provides a summary of your personal details. If you think anything is wrong with these details, please tell your employer in the usual way so they can amend your HR and pension record. We cannot update your personal details on your pension record as any updates must be supplied by your employer. For guidance on how to update your personal information, see the Updating your details page in this guide. Page 8
Your death benefit nominees This section of your statement shows your current nominations. If this section is blank, it means we don t hold any death benefit nominees for you. If we don t hold any nominees for you, your lump sum will be paid to your personal representative. You can nominate more than one beneficiary and choose how to divide your lump sum between them. To make a new death benefit nomination or to change your current nomination, you will need to complete a new Death Benefit Nomination form. You can find the form on the Member forms page of the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/member-forms Please complete your form in black ink and in block letters and return it to: Civil Service Pensions PO Box 2017 Liverpool L69 2BU You can find more information about death benefits in this guide: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/quick-start/peace-of-mind Your death benefit nominee(s) Name: Address: Anne N Other Address line 1, Address line 2 Address line 3, XXXXX Name: Address: Anne N Other Address line 1, Address line 2 Address line 3, XXXXX Name: Address: Anne N Other Address line 1, Address line 2 Address line 3, XXXXX Name: Address: Anne N Other Address line 1, Address line 2 Address line 3, XXXXX If this section is blank, we don t have any death benefit nominees on your record. If you have chosen more than 4 nominees then only 4 will be displayed on this statement. If you want to add a nominee, or change your nominee details you can find a nomination form on the Member forms page of the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/member-forms More information about your death benefit nominee(s) is available in the Important notes at the end of this statement. Page 9
Your scheme membership Your scheme membership premium: You ve been a member of premium since [DOJpremium] DD MM YYYY This section shows the date you joined premium and began building up benefits. If you think the details of your scheme membership are wrong, please contact us by either: Emailing your query to absqueries@mycsp.co.uk Writing to us at: Civil Service Pensions PO Box 2017 Liverpool L69 2BU (Please include copies of any supporting documentation when contacting us.) Calling us on: 0300 123 6666 Page 10
Your pension and tax Your pension and tax Your pension is subject to certain tax limits. Lifetime Allowance (LTA) is the limit on the amount of pension benefit you can build up in your lifetime before you have to pay a tax charge. From 6 April 2016, the standard Lifetime Allowance is 1m. Percentage of standard Lifetime Allowance used by benefits as at the statement date: XXX% There is also an annual limit on the amount of pension savings you make in any tax year before you have to pay a tax charge; this is known as the Annual Allowance (AA). If the growth in the value of your pension in the Civil Service Pension arrangements exceeds this limit in any tax year, you ll receive a Pension Savings Statement by 6 October which will tell you about the action you need to take. If you have other pension savings, including Civil Service Additional Voluntary Contributions, you need to consider all of them against the AA limit each year. More information on your pension and tax is available in the Important notes section. You can find further information here: http://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/pensions-and-tax/ This section shows the percentage of standard Lifetime Allowance used by your benefits. This statement only shows the percentage of the Lifetime Allowance used up by your Civil Service pension. For more information about the Lifetime Allowance, visit the HM Revenue & Customs website which contains information about the tax rules that apply to pensions in the UK. www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs For more information about your Civil Service pension and tax visit: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/pensions-and-tax Please note: If the Lifetime Allowance percentage shown on your statement is 100% or more, then you should visit HM Revenue & Customs website for further guidance and action to take. Page 11
Your premium benefits Your qualifying service in premium This is the length of time you ve been a member of the scheme and have been building up benefits in premium. Your reckonable service in premium This is the amount of service, including transferred in service and any Added Years that you may have bought, that counts towards your premium benefits. Working part-time will reduce your pension by reducing your reckonable service. Your pension is based on your reckonable service and your full-time equivalent pensionable earnings. Your premium Normal Pension Age For the majority of premium members this will be age 60, unless you have a personal pension age. Your pensionable earnings Not all of your pay counts towards your Civil Service pension. Pensionable earnings is usually your basic pay and some types of allowances and bonuses. To find out more about which parts of your pay are pensionable, contact your employer in the usual way. Your annual premium pension This is the amount of pension that can be claimed in full, from your Normal Pension Age, worked out using your current pensionable earnings that have been provided by your employer. Your pension will be reduced for early payment if you claim it before your Normal Pension Age. The figure shown here does not take into account any of these reductions. The premium Normal Pension Age benefits shown, are made up of the pension you ve built up, plus any pension you ve transferred in from another pension scheme and any Added Pension that you may have bought. It also includes any pension debit that has been implemented. Please note: If a Pension Sharing Order or Scheme Pays Debit is currently being processed, this will not be taken into account until your next statement. Your death benefits Your survivor s annual pension can be paid to your spouse, civil partner, or partner in the event of your death. There may also be a pension payable to any eligible children. The premium scheme guide (on the Civil Service Pensions website) contains information on how premium survivor benefits are worked out. www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/premium Page 12
Your premium benefits The date you joined premium: [DOJPCSPS] Your qualifying service in premium to statement date: Your reckonable service in premium to statement date: Your premium Normal Pension Age: Your pensionable earnings: [ActServPCSPS] XX [ReckServPCSPS] XX [PCSPS NPA] 60 [pensionable earnings] Not all service is necessarily included when we work out how much pension you will get. For more information on reckonable service, please refer to the Important notes section. Your premium pension earned to the date of this statement Your annual premium pension: [Total PCSPS Pension] Normal Pension Age is the age at which you can take your full benefits without the amount you get being reduced for early payment. For most premium members this is age 60. The amount shown above includes any transferred in service, added years or added pension benefit you have. Your death benefits Your death in service lump sum Your premium survivor s annual pension: [DISLS} «BS01_PCSPSDISPEN» Your premium survivor s annual pension may be paid to your spouse, civil partner or declared partner in the event of death. For more information, please refer to the Important notes section. All of the figures shown on your Annual Benefit Statement are rounded to whole pounds. Page 7 To find out how long you can expect things to take when you claim your Civil Service pension, read the following guide: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org. uk/members/what-to-expect/when-you-claim-your-civil-service-pension Page 13
Your additional premium benefits This shows a breakdown of the additional premium benefits you have built up to the date of the statement. Your statement will only show those that apply to you. Benefit type This shows the Added Pension you ve bought in premium. Added Pension is a separate pension you ve built up by either making additional regular monthly contributions or one-off lump sum payments. This Added Pension also provides a survivor s pension in the event of your death. Opening balance This is the opening balance of your Added Pension benefits at the start of the scheme year. Added this year This shows the benefits you have added during the scheme year. Annual adjustment This shows the annual adjustment that depends on the change in prices. Closing balance This is the total closing balance as at the date of the statement and is the sum total of all elements shown. Total This shows both the total opening balance and closing balance of all your benefit types. Transfer in If you have transferred benefits from another pension scheme into your Civil Service pension, any service that was credited into your premium pension will be shown here. Added Years It was possible, up to 29 February 2008, to buy Added Years of service. If you ve bought or have an existing Added Years contract, the Added Years you have purchased will be shown here. For more information about Added Pension read the following Quick Start guide, available on the Quick Start page of the Civil Service Pensions website. www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/media/95431/qsg-addedpens-jan16.pdf Page 14
Your additional premium benefits Benefit type Opening balance Added this year Annual adjustment X.XX% Closing balance Added pension (self ad dependants) each year Total [PCSPSADDSSp ension-1] pa [PCSPSADDpe nsiontotal-1] pa [PCSPSAPSSconts] x [PCSPSAPSSfactor] = [PCSPSAPSSpension] [PCSPSAPSSinc] [PCSPSAPSSaccrual] pa pa [PCSPSADDPens iontotal] pa These benefits are included in the total premium pension on the previous page. Annual adjustments for premium added pensions are set by HM Treasury and are based on changes to prices. You can read more about these in the Important notes section. Your transferred in service credit: Your added years purchased: XX XX [PCSPSTVYRS] [PCSPSADDYRS] Any transferred in service credit and added years you have bought are included in your reckonable service shown on the previous page. All of the figures shown on your Annual Benefit Statement are rounded to whole pounds. Page 15
Your projected benefits If you will remain in premium up to your Normal Pension Age, this section includes some illustrations of the pension benefits you might receive at ages 55, 60 and 65. If you are due to move into alpha with an individual taper date your statement will not include any projected benefits, as the way your benefits build up in alpha will change. Your projected pension at 55, 60, 65 These are the 3 separate ages that your pension is projected to. Age 55 is before the premium Normal Pension Age, so the projections to 55 have been reduced to take into account early payment. Age 60 is the premium normal pension age, and age 65 is also provided. Your reckonable service This shows the amount of reckonable service you could build up by the ages shown. Your projected service assumes that your working pattern does not change. This means that if you are working full time at the date your statement was produced, you stay working full time until ages 55, 60 and 65. Your total pension This is the amount of pension benefits you could build up at the ages shown. Please note: The pension amounts shown project your main scheme benefits and any transfer in and Added Years you have bought up to the statement date. Added Pension has not been included in the projection. You can see what you have bought to the statement date in the Your additional classic benefits section of your statement. Page 16
Your projected benefits This section shows an estimate of what your benefits might be at different retirement ages. The projected pensions and lump sums are based on your current salary and assume no change to your working pattern. This is only an illustration and is not a guarantee of the benefits you will receive. Your projected pension at: age 55 age 60 age 65 Your reckonable service XX years XX days XX years XX days XX years XX days Your total pension (each year) Your pension takes account of your pension sharing order pa pa pa Your standard lump sum The figures above include only the added pension you have bought to the date of the statement. The total added pension you receive at retirement will depend on any contributions for added pension that you pay in the future. These figures are only illustrations and are not a guarantee of the benefits you will receive. Page 17
Glossary Abatement If you have a Civil Service pension, or have taken an Annual Compensation Payment (ACP) and subsequently take a job with an organisation that is covered by the CSP arrangements, you may not earn more, by way of re-employed salary and pension, than you were earning before you retired. Where your new salary and pension exceed your previous salary, we deduct the excess from your pension. This is known as abatement. Abatement only applies to classic, classic plus, premium, and nuvos. Added Pension Added Pension is an amount of extra annual pension that you can buy by making additional contributions; it will be paid with your pension after you retire. Added Years It was possible, up to 29 February 2008, to buy Added Years of service. If you have an existing Added Years contract, you will continue to add to your reckonable service as long as your Added Years contributions under your contract continue to be paid. If your working hours change your Added Years contract will change too. Additional lump sum When you take your pension benefits, within the limits set by HM Revenue & Customs, you may be able to choose to exchange some of your pension for a lump sum. Taking this will reduce your pension amount. Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) You can make additional contributions to the CSAVC scheme to enhance your benefits. The CSAVC scheme is a separate scheme, provided by Scottish Widows and Standard Life. You can contact the relevant CSAVC provider using the contact details below. Scottish Widows - 0800 0284419 or www.scottishwidows.co.uk/civilservice Standard Life - 0800 333304 or www.standardlife.co.uk/civilservice Annual Allowance The annual limit on the amount of pension savings you make in any tax year before you have to pay a tax charge. The level of allowance is set by HM Revenue & Customs. Banked service Any service built up in classic, classic plus, premium or nuvos when a member moved into alpha. Death benefit nominees A person, people or an organisation that you have nominated to receive the lump sum payment when you die. Declared partner Members of classic plus, premium, nuvos or alpha can nominate a partner to receive a partner pension in the event of their death by completing a Partner declaration form. However, nomination of a partner, is not compulsory. Conditions apply to the payment of benefits. Please refer to the relevant scheme guide for more information. Page 18
Final pay This is used to work out the lump sum payable if you die in service, if you are a member of alpha or nuvos when you die. Final pensionable earnings Your pensionable earnings are used to calculate your benefits when you retire. The calculation is different for each scheme, so please refer to the relevant scheme guide for more information. Lifetime Allowance The maximum amount of pension savings you can build up over your life without incurring an additional tax charge. Minimum pension age Minimum pension age is the earliest you can claim your benefits. If you joined the PCSPS before 06 April 2006, your minimum pension age in that scheme is likely to be 50. All other members can take their benefits from age 55. The minimum pension age in alpha is currently age 55. Normal Pension Age (NPA) The earliest age that you can take your full unreduced pension benefits. Partial retirement Partial retirement is for members who want to start accessing their pension and move gradually from work to retirement. You have to agree this with your employer and reduce your earnings by at least 20% by reducing your working hours or grade. Abatement may apply to members of classic, classic plus, premium, and nuvos. PCSPS The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme. This is the collective name for classic, classic plus, premium and nuvos. Pensionable earnings All the earnings that could count towards your pension which you receive during the scheme year. Preserved benefits If you leave the scheme with more than two years service, under Normal Pension Age and do not transfer your pension to another scheme, the pension benefits that you have built up will be held in the scheme (preserved) until you claim them. Cost of living increases are applied each year. Qualifying service The time you have been a member of the scheme that qualifies you for certain benefits. Reckonable service This is the amount of service, including transferred in service and any Added Years that you may have bought, that counts towards your pension benefits. Working part-time will reduce your pension by reducing your reckonable service. Transfer in Pension benefits, from another pension arrangement, that you moved into the Civil Service Pensions arrangements. Page 19
Further information We value your feedback We re always looking for ways to improve the information we provide and to make sure we ve got it right, we want to hear your feedback. To help us, please take a minute to tell us what you think about this guide, by going to the following address and completing the short survey: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/2017absguide Further information about Annual Benefit Statements The Annual Benefit Statement page on the Civil Service Pensions website contains more information about Annual Benefit Statements including how statements are produced and issued, a set of frequently asked questions and answers and a distribution schedule. To find out more, click here: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/abs Check the web for more general pension information Remember, if you re looking for information about your Civil Service pension, you should first check the Civil Service Pensions website. We ve created scheme guides, What to expect guides, Quick Start guides and FAQs that cover key pension events and help you to better understand your pension benefits. Features We also have a brand new section of the website, called Members like me. Inspired by members we met at events all over the country, Members like me is available on the Civil Service Pensions website now to help you find the information you need, when you need it. Visit Members like me now, at: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/members/members-like-me Page 20
Scan here for more help with your Annual Benefit Statement! www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/abs 2017