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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