Last updated - 18th August 2010
Civil Service pensions are set by statute (Superannuation Act 1972) and managed by Cabinet Office on behalf of the Minister for the Civil Service.
Responsibility for pensions administration is delegated to individual employers who report annually to Cabinet Office.
A governance group comprising representatives nominated by Cabinet Office and the Council of Civil Service Unions has been in place since October 2008:
• to provide a mechanism through which the service delivery of the Civil Service pension arrangements is monitored independently, and
• to play a role in ensuring that pension scheme members and their employers have involvement in the process for reviewing PCSPS scheme costs. In particular the group will be involved in the quadrennial valuation of the PCSPS, the results of which will form the basis for any sharing of cost increases between employers and members.
You can read the Governance Group's first annual report (including their terms of reference) at the following link.
Governance Group Annual Report 2008 - 09 [PDF 54KB, 9 pages]
Governance Group Annual Report 2009 - 10 [PDF 67KB, 12 pages]
Cabinet Office meets with representatives of the Council of Civil Service Unions via the Joint Committee on Superannuation (JCS). This meets quarterly and is an opportunity to discuss the provisions of the scheme and any proposed changes.
Minutes of JCS meeting of 7 May 2008
Minutes of JCS meeting of 2nd October 2008
Minutes of JCS meeting of 23rd September 2009
Minutes of JCS meeting of 22nd February 2010
Minutes of JCS meeting of 25th May 2010
Scheme managers: Cabinet Office. Scheme administration: My Civil Service Pension - services delivered by Pension Service Centres (Authorised Pension Administration Centres) with payment services through Capita Hartshead. Scheme Medical Advisor: Capita Health Solutions. AVC providers: Scottish Widows, Standard Life, Equitable Life (closed to new members). partnership providers: Scottish Widows, Standard Life, TUC. Stakeholder provider: Standard Life. Scheme Actuary: Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow. Legal advisers: The Treasury Advisory Division, HM Treasury.
All Civil Servants are scheme members, plus employees of bodies listed in Schedule 1 to the Superannuation Act 1972 (see below)
Active members
classic 61%, classic plus 3%, premium 28%, nuvos 8%
The Civil Service pension arrangements also apply to a number of publicly-funded bodies which are not part of the Civil Service. These are listed in Schedule 1 to the Superannuation Act 1972 (as amended) List of Schedule 1 bodies
Several other pension schemes either use our rules as a basis for their own, or use our rules with modifications. Here is a list of by-analogy and analogous schemes. Resource accounts
Resource accounts are published annually.
Members of classic contribute 1.5% of their pensionable earnings, classic plus, premium and nuvos members all contribute 3.5%. partnership members can choose whether they contribute or not to their partnership account.
