Annual benefit statements - frequently asked questions
Your statement is an important document which updates you about your pension, gives you the opportunity to plan for your future income and helps you make decisions about retirement.
If you're an active member or the LGPS starting to look into your pension and thinking about if it will give you enough income when you retire, or what you might receive if you retire at different dates, you may find our pension calculator helpful.
When you use the calculator, please have your latest annual pension statement with you because all the information you’ll need is shown on your statement.
When can I expect to receive my statement?
We will publish your annual statement on My Pension Portal by 31 August each year, unless you have opted for a paper statement.
If you have opted for a paper statement this will be sent to your home address that is held on your pension record.
Any request made for a paper statement after 17 August 2023 will have missed the first post run. A subsequent mail out is planned for later in the year when you statement will then be sent in the post.
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Any final salary benefits you built up before 1 April 2014 are linked to your full-time equivalent pay, even if you are part time (as your membership would have been reduced accordingly).
Any benefits you build up from 1 April 2014 is linked to your career average revalued earnings which is based on the actual amount that you earn. If you are part time, this will be the part time pay.
If you disagree with the pay figures disclosed on your statement, you should contact your employer's payroll section for further clarification.
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Your career average pensionable pay includes any contractual and non-contractual overtime, whereas your final salary pay only includes contractual overtime.
If you disagree with the pay figures disclosed on your statement, you should contact your employer's payroll section for further clarification.
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This may be for any number of reasons such as:
- Your employer may have informed us that you have changed your contract in some way and we are currently looking at making alterations to your pension record to reflect this. A new revised statement will be issued to you later in the year under these circumstances.
- Your employer may have changed their payroll provider during the year and as a result we are currently looking at collating all the information we have been sent. This process can take some time so a further statement containing full details of your pension benefits will be forwarded in due course.
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Reductions aren't included in the current value of your benefits. If you take your pension benefits before your normal pension age (other than through redundancy or business efficiency or ill-health grounds), your pension and any lump-sum is usually reduced.
You can see the reductions on our website or use the on-line calculator on the 'my pension' system.
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From 1 April 2014, you have increased flexibility on when you can retire and take your pension benefits. You can choose to retire and draw your pension benefits at any time between age 55 and 75.
If you need to see the current or future value of your pension benefits please use the on-line calculator.
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If you have had a transfer of undertakings (protection of employment) (TUPE) transfer or have combined multiple pension accounts, this date reflects the most recent contract start date and not your original date of joining.
Your annual benefit statement may show a later starting date than you would expect to see, this may be because we are currently working on aggregating (joining) more than one pension record together, following a change in post or contract. You will be informed as soon as this has been done and you can then check your continuous period of service on your record through the Portal and run an additional benefit calculation if you wish to.
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Yes your annual pension statement includes all your pension membership built up in the pension scheme.
However, if you have more than one employment contract and are a member of the pension scheme in each employment you will receive an annual benefit statement for each employment. For example if you have two separate jobs you will have two separate pension records / annual benefit statements.
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No your pension is calculated on the salary you earn each year divided by 49**to provide you with an annual pension (please see example below)
Scheme Year 2022/2023
Pensionable Pay £24,500 / 49** = £500 pension per annum*
*the £500 annual pension is then increased each year in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) until you chose to receive your pension. You therefore have the reassurance that the pension you have built increases in line with inflation and therefore maintains its value until retirement. The pension will also increase in retirement in line with the CPI for the rest of your life. Current Life Expectancy for a male is 83.5 years and for a female 86 years.
** the way you build up pension per year will differ if you have elected to pay half pension contributions into the 50/50 section of the pension scheme
Membership not only provides a pension at retirement but also valuable life assurance, dependants pension and ill health protection
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Staffordshire Pension Fund will never disclose the name(s) of anyone you have nominated.
If you have completed a nomination and returned the form to the Pension Fund, we will hold a copy of the form on your record: you can see the date that you completed a nomination on your “paper” ABS in the section marked “Nomination Details”.
If you are unsure if you have completed a nomination form or wish to change the beneficiary(s) you can do so by completing the form which you can find here
Staffordshire Pension Fund - Death grant and making a nomination (staffspf.org.uk)
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To guide members through the different types of early retirement we have produced explanatory notes setting out the criteria, roles and responsibilities of the Fund, employers and members, plus the process to be followed.
For more information follow the link below.
Staffordshire Pension Fund - Retirement guides (staffspf.org.uk)