All membership you built up in the Scheme before 1 April 2014 is used to calculate your benefits in the final salary scheme. Only membership you built up from 1 April 2014 onwards is calculated under the rules of the Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme.

Membership under the final salary scheme is calculated in years and days. If you were part-time under the final salary scheme your membership was proportioned to reflect your part-time hours or weeks of employment.

Final Salary

Even though the scheme changed from 1 April 2014, protection is in place to ensure you can use your final salary when you leave to work out your pension for the membership you built up to 31 March 2014. This means that any future pay increases will be included in the final salary used to work out these benefits.

The definition of final salary for benefits built up before 1 April 2014 remains the same as it was before the Scheme changed. Your final salary is normally the average full-time equivalent pay in respect of your final year of scheme membership or one of the previous 2 years if this is higher. This remains so from 1 April 2014. Please note Final Salary does not include non-contractual overtime payments.

In addition if your full-time equivalent pay has reduced for reasons beyond your control, or increases to your pay are restricted in your last 10 years of continuous employment with your employer, you continue to have the option to have all your pre 1 April 2014 membership based on the average of any 3 consecutive years' pay in the last 10 years (ending on a 31 March). If you think this option would apply to you, we must have a request in writing from you asking for your final salary to be calculated in this way. Your written application must be made before you leave your employment.