Civil Service pension calculator
New civil servants join alpha, a defined benefit pension that builds up 2.32% of your pay every year, kept in line with inflation. Estimate what yours could be worth, in today's money.
Your pensionable pay now, or the salary of a job you're considering.
How long you expect to be building up alpha pension.
Pay rises above inflation
Promotions and progression would add to this.
Only used for the partnership account comparison.
Estimated alpha pension from your normal pension age, in today's money
£17,879 a year
About £1,490 a month before tax, then increased each year in line with prices.
You'd pay now
4.6%
That's, per year
£1,610
Employer pays now
28.97%
That's, per year
£10,140
Pension built up by years of service
Annual pension in today's money. Hover the chart for each year.
Taking a tax-free lump sum
alpha lets you give up some annual pension for a lump sum, at 12 times the pension given up.
Lump sum £0, leaving £17,879 a year.
Shown up to 20% of your pension for illustration. The actual maximum is 25% of the total value of your benefits, subject to HMRC limits. Check with the scheme.
The alternative: a partnership pension account
Instead of alpha you can choose a partnership account, a defined contribution pension. At age 30 your employer would pay 8% of your pay (£2,800 a year), plus match what you pay up to 3%. Its value depends on contributions and investment returns, so there's no guaranteed income to compare directly.
This is an estimate, not financial advice. It assumes 2.32% of each year's pay builds up, that yearly revaluation keeps pace with inflation, today's contribution rates, and full alpha membership throughout. It doesn't model early or late retirement (the scheme hasn't published factors for alpha), tax, part-time changes, added pension, EPA or older schemes. Your Annual Benefit Statement from the Civil Service Pension Scheme shows your real figures.
How the alpha pension works
- Career average, defined benefit. Each scheme year, 2.32% of your actual pensionable earnings (what you're paid before tax and National Insurance) is added to your pension.
- Kept in line with prices. At the start of each scheme year, the pension you've built up is increased by a Treasury revaluation order based on CPI inflation. Once it's being paid, it rises in line with prices too.
- Normal pension age is the later of 65 or your State Pension age. You can usually take it earlier with a reduction, or later with an addition, but the scheme hasn't published the factors for alpha, so our calculator shows the pension from your normal pension age.
- Minimum pension age is currently 55, and rises to 57 from 6 April 2028 for most people without a protected pension age.
- Lump sum. You can give up some pension for a tax-free lump sum: 12 for each £1 of annual pension, up to 25% of the total value of your benefits, subject to HMRC limits.
Recent revaluation rates
| Applied | Revaluation (CPI) |
|---|---|
| April 2024 | 6.7% |
| April 2025 | 1.7% |
| April 2026 | 3.8% |
Example from the scheme: someone earning £16,000 in 2024/25 built up £371.20, increased by 1.70% in 2025 to £377.51.
What it costs you, and what your employer pays
Your contribution rate depends on which band your annualised pensionable earnings fall into. The lowest band's upper limit now rises each year with CPI. Rates for 2026/27:
| Pensionable earnings | Member contribution |
|---|---|
| £0 to £36,199 | 4.6% |
| £36,200 to £56,000 | 5.45% |
| £56,001 to £150,000 | 7.35% |
| £150,001 and above | 8.05% |
Your employer pays 28.97% of your pensionable pay on top, for every pay band (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027).
The partnership pension account
Instead of alpha you can choose a partnership account, a defined contribution pension provided by Legal & General. You don't have to contribute anything, and your employer pays an age-related amount (based on your age at the start of the tax year) plus a match of what you pay, up to 3%:
| Age | Employer contribution |
|---|---|
| Under 31 | 8% |
| 31 to 35 | 9% |
| 36 to 40 | 11% |
| 41 to 45 | 13.5% |
| 46 and over | 14.75% |
Other benefits and rules
- Death in service: a lump sum of the higher of two times your final pay or five times your built-up pension (less any payments already made), plus pensions for an adult dependant and eligible children.
- Ill health: with at least two years' membership, you may get your pension early, unreduced, with an enhancement if you can't work in any employment.
- Part-time: alpha builds up on what you're actually paid.
- Leaving: with more than two years' qualifying service you keep a preserved pension. With less, you're offered a refund or transfer.
- Older schemes (classic, premium, nuvos and classic plus) closed to future build-up on 31 March 2022. They don't apply to new joiners.
At 31 March 2025 the Civil Service schemes had about 606,000 active members, 356,000 deferred members and 741,000 pensioners.
Your real figures
If you're already a member, your Annual Benefit Statement and the scheme's member portal show your actual pension. The scheme also publishes Excel calculators for added pension, EPA (effective pension age) and lump sums. Pension rules and rates change, so check the official scheme website before making decisions.
Considering a Civil Service job? See pay by grade or jobs by type.
Sources
- Civil Service Pension Scheme: alpha or partnership
- alpha contributions explained (factsheet)
- Member contribution rates
- Employer contribution rates
- alpha contributions and benefits (KA-01131)
- alpha scheme guide (KA-01106)
- Partnership pension account (KA-01140)
- Minimum pension age
- Death in service (KA-01222)
- Public Service Pensions Revaluation Order 2025 (SI 2025/252)
- Public Service Pensions Revaluation Order 2024 (SI 2024/290)
- Written Ministerial Statement on 2026 revaluation and increases, 26 February 2026
- Civil Superannuation annual account 2024 to 2025 (GOV.UK)
- Official pension calculators (Excel)
Independent information, not official advice. Pay, grades and rules vary by department and change over time, so always check the official job advert.