If you joined the Civil Service between July 2007 and March 2015, you probably have a Civil Service nuvos pension. Nuvos was the first Civil Service scheme built on career average rather than final salary: each year added its own slice of pension, worked out from that year’s pay. Nobody builds up new nuvos pension now, because since 1 April 2022 every serving civil servant builds up alpha. What you built in nuvos stays in nuvos, though, on nuvos rules.
Here we take nuvos on its own: how it is worked out, the pension age and the boost for retiring late, the lump sum, ill-health retirement, and what it pays your family if you die. To see how nuvos sits alongside classic, premium and alpha, read our guide to the whole Civil Service Pension Scheme.
In short
- Nuvos was open to new joiners from 30 July 2007 to 31 March 2015, and closed to all future build-up on 31 March 2022.
- Each year added 2.3% of that year’s pensionable earnings as pension, and the total goes up each year with prices.
- Nuvos’s pension age is 65. Take it from 55 and it is reduced; take it after 65 and it is increased.
- No automatic lump sum, but you can swap pension for cash at £12 for every £1 of yearly pension you give up.
- If you die in service, the lump sum is two years’ pay or five times your pension, whichever is higher, and nuvos can pay a pension to a declared partner.
Who is in the Civil Service nuvos pension scheme?
From 30 July 2007, new joiners went into nuvos rather than premium, and that stayed the case until 31 March 2015, when alpha replaced it. Most nuvos members moved to alpha in 2015; the rest followed on 1 April 2022, the day nuvos closed to all future build-up.
The nuvos pension you built before then is kept and paid alongside your alpha pension. Because nuvos was already career average, there is no final salary link to carry across, as there is for classic and premium; your nuvos pension simply keeps rising with prices until you take it.
How your nuvos pension is worked out
Each scheme year added 2.3% of that year’s pensionable earnings to your pension. The Cabinet Office’s scheme accounts describe nuvos as “2.3% of each year’s pensionable earnings, with the total amount adjusted in line with Orders made under the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971”. In practice, a year on £30,000 added £690 of yearly pension, and the running total has risen every year since in line with inflation.
What you retire with is that total, plus any added pension you bought, any pension transferred in, all those yearly increases and any late retirement addition. There is a ceiling too: your nuvos pension, not counting added pension you bought, cannot be more than 75% of your highest earnings in the scheme.
When you can take your nuvos pension
The booklet states it plainly: “The scheme has a pension age of 65.” That is the earliest you can usually take it unreduced.
Taking it early. You can take it from 55, though it is reduced because it will be paid for longer. There is no flat percentage; the reduction comes from actuarial tables, so treat the figure on your quote as the real one. The minimum pension age for most UK pensions rises from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, and our guide to who keeps 55 explains what that means for public sector members.
Taking it late. Here nuvos parts company with classic and premium. If you take it after 65, “it will be increased to reflect the late payment. Your annual benefit statement will show an ‘age addition’ each year after you 65th birthday.” Neither classic nor premium pays anything for the delay.
The nuvos lump sum: swapping pension for cash
Nuvos has no automatic lump sum. What it offers instead is a choice, when your pension starts, to exchange some of it for a one-off payment, usually tax free, at a fixed rate: “For each £12 of lump sum you want to take, the pension payroll provider will reduce your pension by £1 a year.” HM Revenue and Customs caps the total, and your estimate shows the maximum. Our guide to lump sums and commutation sets the rates across the schemes side by side.
You can also give up some pension before it starts to provide a larger pension for someone who is financially dependent on you, or with whom you are financially interdependent. The scheme calls this allocation, and it has to be settled before you retire.
How nuvos keeps up with prices
The same pensions increase rules run all the way through nuvos: what you built up goes up each April in line with CPI inflation for the year to the previous September, both before and after you take it. If you have service from before 1997 in an earlier scheme, part of your pension may be a Guaranteed Minimum Pension, and some of the increase on that part can be paid with your State Pension once you reach State Pension age.
Ill-health retirement in nuvos
You normally need at least two years’ service, and there are two tiers: the lower tier if you are permanently unable to do your own job or a comparable one, and the upper tier if you are permanently unable to do any gainful work.
For the upper tier the scheme enhances your pension as though you had worked on to 65: it divides your pension by the years you paid into nuvos and multiplies the result by the years from your retirement to your 65th birthday. The booklet’s example is Gerard, who retires at 55 after 20 years with a pension of £7,500. His enhancement is £7,500 / 20 x 10 = £3,750, so his nuvos pension becomes £11,250 a year. The 75% ceiling still applies. Our ill-health retirement guide compares the tests across the schemes.
What nuvos pays when you die
If you die while working, the lump sum is “two years of the deceased member’s final pay or five times the pension the member had built up in nuvos”, whichever is higher. A pension is paid to your widow, widower, civil partner or declared partner, “as long as the member had built up at least one year’s scheme membership”. The amount is “37.5% of the pension we would have paid to the member had they retired on the day they died”, and the scheme may increase it to reflect the service you would have gone on to build. It is reduced if your partner is more than 12 years younger than you.
If you die after taking your pension, and within five years of it starting, the balance of five years’ pension is paid as a lump sum. Your spouse, civil partner or declared partner then gets 37.5% of your pension, including any added pension you bought for your family.
Eligible children get 30% each if an adult pension is also paid, or 50% each if not, with the total shared if there are more than two. A declared partner is one who has completed a partnership declaration with you, so check that the scheme has it on record. Our guide to Civil Service death benefit claims covers what families need to do.
Nuvos and McCloud
The McCloud remedy applies if you were in a public service pension scheme on or before 31 March 2012 and still in service after 1 April 2015. It covers your service from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022, which has been moved back into nuvos; when you take your pension you choose whether to keep nuvos or alpha benefits for those years. Our Civil Service McCloud guide covers the choice and the statements.
Added pension in nuvos
You cannot start a new added pension contract in nuvos now; new added pension is bought in alpha only. A contract you already have in nuvos keeps running until it ends or you cancel it, with a 2026/27 ceiling of £9,600 of yearly pension in nuvos. Our guide to buying added pension explains alpha’s version.
Frequently asked questions
What is the nuvos pension scheme?
Nuvos is the career average section of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme for people who joined between 30 July 2007 and 31 March 2015. Each year added 2.3% of that year’s pensionable earnings as pension, increased every year with prices, from a pension age of 65.
What is the nuvos pension age?
The nuvos pension age is 65. You can take it from 55 with a reduction for early payment. Take it after 65 and it is increased for late payment, with an age addition shown on your annual benefit statement for each year after your 65th birthday.
What is the nuvos accrual rate?
The nuvos accrual rate is 2.3% of each year’s pensionable earnings. A year on £30,000 added £690 of yearly pension, and the running total has been increased every year since in line with the pensions increase orders.
What is the difference between nuvos and alpha?
The main differences are the rate and the pension age: nuvos built 2.3% a year with a pension age of 65, while alpha builds 2.32% a year with a pension age equal to your State Pension age, or 65 if later. Both are career average schemes. Everyone still working has been in alpha since 1 April 2022, and nuvos pension for earlier years is kept.
Does nuvos have a lump sum?
Not as an automatic payment. You can give up part of your pension for a lump sum at £12 for every £1 of yearly pension, up to HMRC’s limits, and your retirement estimate shows the maximum.
Does nuvos pay a pension to an unmarried partner?
Yes, to a declared partner, provided the member had at least one year’s scheme membership. A declared partner is one who has completed a partnership declaration with the member, so check that one is on the scheme’s record.
Pension Plain’s take
Nuvos was the Civil Service’s first go at career average, and in two places it is kinder than the schemes either side of it. It is the only one of the old Civil Service schemes that pays you more for taking your pension late, and it opens a partner pension after just one year’s membership. The catch is the pension age of 65, five years later than classic and premium, which makes the early-retirement reduction the number to understand if you are thinking of going sooner.
Where to get help
Pension Plain explains how the rules work. It does not give financial advice, and nothing here is a recommendation about when or how to take your pension.
- The Civil Service Pension Scheme holds your record and can give you a quote, confirm your earliest retirement age and update your nomination or partnership declaration.
- MoneyHelper offers free, impartial, government-backed guidance on pensions: moneyhelper.org.uk
- For regulated advice on your own position, an FCA-authorised adviser is the route. The register is at register.fca.org.uk
Pension Plain is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This is information, not advice.
Sources
- Civil Service Pension Scheme, Nuvos retirement benefits (booklet).
- Civil Service Pension Scheme, Nuvos ill-health retirement pension benefits (booklet).
- Civil Service Pension Scheme, Nuvos benefits on death in service (booklet).
- Civil Service Pension Scheme, added pension, for the 2026/27 limits.
- Cabinet Office, Civil Superannuation Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, for the scheme dates, the 2.3% build-up and the McCloud remedy.