Deferred benefits
At a glance
If you left the 2006 scheme and haven’t transferred your benefits to another pension scheme, your benefits will be deferred. This means they are held in the scheme until you retire. They are increased each year to keep up with inflation.
You are in the
2006 scheme
Two or more years' membership
Your pension at retirement
If you were in the 2006 scheme for at least two years and then opted out or left the force before you reached age 55, the benefits you built up will be deferred.
This means that they will stay in the scheme until you take them at age 65. They are increased in line with the consumer prices index to ensure they keep up with inflation.
Taking your benefits
At age 65
Deferred benefits can be taken from age 65.
Deferred pensions can be taken earlier if you become permanently disabled for engaging in any regular employment (an annual average of at least 30 hours per week). In these circumstances, no reductions would apply to your pension.
Taking your benefits
Before age 65
If you take your deferred benefits before age 65, any lump sum and annual pension would be reduced for early payment. The amount they are reduced by is determined by an early retirement factor and would depend on the age in years and complete months when you take them. Generally, the reduction is around 5% for each year you retire early.
Early retirement factors - Pension
Enter the age, in years and months, that you want to take your pension to find out the specific early retirement factor:
Early retirement factors - Lump sum
Enter the age, in years and months, that you want to take your benefits to find out the specific early retirement factor that would be applied to your lump sum:
Meet Denise...
Some of this pension can be exchanged for a lump sum.
Age at retirement
55
Type of member
Deferred
Pension accrued at age 55
£9,000
Lump sum at age 55
£36,000
Denise wants to take her pension at age 55, rather than waiting for her normal pension age of 65. Using the early retirement factors for pension and lump sum, Denise can see that the early retirement factors would be:
- Pension: 38.20%
- Lump sum: 18.00%
This means that her reduced pension would be calculated as:
Her reduced lump sum would be calculated as:
Find out the full breakdown of early retirement factors for the deferred pension and deferred lump sum in the factor tables in the resources section.