Educational, not advice. This guide explains what is on a public sector pension Annual Benefit Statement and how to read it. It is general information, not personal financial advice. Figures and wording vary by scheme, so always read your own statement alongside your scheme’s own guidance.
In short
- Your scheme must send you an Annual Benefit Statement (ABS) by 31 August each year, for both active and deferred members.
- It shows the pension you have built up as at 31 March, quoted as a yearly amount, plus a projection of what you might get at your normal pension age.
- The built-up figure is real and based on your record. The projection is an illustration built on assumptions, so treat the two differently.
- If you have service in the 2015 to 2022 remedy period, your statement may show both final salary and career average figures. The formal choice happens later, through a separate Remediable Service Statement.
- Five things are worth a yearly check: your service dates, your pay figure, your part-time hours, any transferred-in service, and who you have nominated for death benefits.
What an Annual Benefit Statement is
An Annual Benefit Statement is your scheme’s yearly snapshot of the pension you have earned so far. By law, public service schemes must provide one to every active and deferred member by 31 August, and it reflects your position as at the previous 31 March. Think of it as a payslip for your future, issued once a year.
It is one of the few moments each year when your pension stops being an abstraction and becomes a number. For a reminder of how the underlying schemes build that number, see our guide to how UK public sector pensions actually work.
What is on your statement
The exact layout differs from scheme to scheme, but most statements show the same core figures:
- Pension built up to date. The yearly pension you have earned so far, shown as if you had left the scheme on 31 March. This is the headline number.
- This year’s build-up. The slice of pension you added in the latest scheme year. In a career average scheme this is a set fraction of your pensionable pay for the year.
- Projected pension at normal pension age. An estimate of your pension if you keep paying in until your scheme’s normal pension age. This is an illustration, not a promise.
- Automatic lump sum, if any. Some members, for example LGPS members with service before 1 April 2008, have an automatic tax-free lump sum shown separately.
- Survivor and dependant benefits. The pension that would be paid to a spouse, civil partner or eligible partner if you died.
- Death-in-service lump sum. For active members, the lump sum payable if you died while still in pensionable employment, usually a multiple of pay.
- The figures behind the sums. Your pensionable pay, your service dates and other details used in the calculation, so you can check them.
How the figures are worked out
Two ideas explain most of what you see. The first is that your built-up pension is calculated on a career average basis in the current schemes: each year you earn a fixed fraction of that year’s pensionable pay as pension, and past years are revalued each year to keep pace with prices or earnings. The second is that the built-up figure is shown as if you left on 31 March, which is why it can look modest mid-career. It is the value of what you have banked so far, not what you are on track to retire on.
The projection is the opposite. It assumes you keep working and contributing to your normal pension age, on a set of standard assumptions about pay and revaluation. It is genuinely useful for planning, but it will move year to year, so do not treat a single projection as a fixed target.
The McCloud wrinkle
If you were paying in during the remedy period (broadly 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022), the McCloud remedy may affect how your statement reads. Some schemes show both the final salary and the career average position for those years, because eligible members will eventually choose which applies to that period. Teachers’ Pensions, for example, displays both options for members affected by transitional protection.
Importantly, your Annual Benefit Statement is not where you make that choice. The formal comparison and decision come through a separate document, the Remediable Service Statement, which we explain in how to read your McCloud Remediable Service Statement. If the two ever seem to disagree, the Remediable Service Statement is the one that governs the remedy choice.
Five things worth checking
- Your service dates. Make sure the start date and any breaks match your memory. Missing service means a smaller pension.
- Your pay figure. Check the pensionable pay used looks right. A wrong figure flows straight into the pension built up that year.
- Part-time hours. If you work or have worked part-time, confirm the proportions are recorded correctly.
- Transferred-in service. If you brought a pension in from a previous job, check it is reflected.
- Your nomination. Confirm your expression of wish names the right people. This is the single easiest thing to keep current, and it matters most at the worst time.
Where to find yours, scheme by scheme
- NHS: through the Total Reward Statement and the NHS Pensions member area, updated each August.
- Teachers: through your Teachers’ Pensions online account, where an active member’s statement updates monthly.
- Local government (LGPS): through your administering fund’s member portal.
- Civil Service: through the Civil Service Pensions member area.
What to do if something looks wrong
Most errors trace back to the data your employer sent the scheme, usually pay or service. If a figure looks wrong, contact your scheme administrator, and where it concerns pay or hours, your employer’s payroll or pensions team too. It is far easier to fix a record now than to untangle it years later at retirement.
Common questions
Why is my built-up pension lower than I expected?
Because it is shown as if you stopped paying in on 31 March. It reflects only what you have earned so far, not the larger figure you are projected to reach by your normal pension age.
Is the projected figure guaranteed?
No. It is an illustration based on standard assumptions and will change from year to year. Use it for planning, not as a fixed promise.
My statement shows two sets of figures. Which is right?
That is the McCloud remedy at work. For the 2015 to 2022 period some schemes display both final salary and career average figures because you will choose between them later, through your Remediable Service Statement.
Pension Plain’s take
The statement that arrives each summer is more useful than most people realise, and it takes ten minutes to get value from it. Read the built-up figure and the projection as two different things, sanity-check the pay and service the scheme has recorded, and make sure your nomination is current. Doing that once a year is the cheapest form of pension admin there is, and it heads off the errors that are painful to fix decades later.
This article is for general information and does not constitute financial advice. Scheme rules and statement formats differ, so check your own statement and your scheme’s guidance, and seek advice for decisions about your benefits.
Key sources
- LGPS, What your pension fund or employer must tell you.
- NHS Business Services Authority, Details on my statement.
- Teachers’ Pensions, Benefit Statement.
- Civil Service Pensions, Annual Benefit Statement.