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Civil Service Pension

The Civil Service Pension Scheme covers around 1.7 million current and former civil servants. It has several historic sections, classic, classic plus, premium and nuvos, alongside the alpha career-average section that almost everyone is now accruing in. The scheme is currently in the middle of a major administrator handover from MyCSP / Capita to a new arrangement, which has caused real service disruption.

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Civil Service Pension Scheme: plain-English guide

The full plain-English guide for this scheme, what it is, how the sections fit together, what you contribute and what you get out.

What members usually ask

Which section am I actually in?
Depends on when you joined the civil service and choices you made in 2007 and 2015. Your annual statement will say.
What’s the alpha contribution rate?
Tiered between 4.6% and 8.05% in 2026/27, based on actual pensionable earnings.
Should I be in alpha or partnership?
These are very different products. Alpha is a defined-benefit pension; partnership is a defined-contribution arrangement. They are not comparable like-for-like.
Why are my statements late or missing?
The recovery plan is publicly tracked. The Cabinet Office publishes regular updates on gov.uk.

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Official sources for this scheme

Free: the Pension Statement Decoder

Plain English on what your annual statement is actually telling you. Subscribe and we’ll send it, plus one short email every two weeks. No sales, unsubscribe whenever.