If you draw a public service pension, or have one waiting for you, it goes up every April. Nobody in a room decides how much. The public service pension increase 2027 is set, like every year’s, by a single inflation figure published on a known morning, and this year that morning is Wednesday 21 October 2026.
The Office for National Statistics has now published the September figure. Consumer Prices Index inflation in the 12 months to September 2026 was 3.5%, so the public service pension increase for April 2027 is expected to be 3.5%.
This guide explains how that works, who gets the increase, who has to wait, and why active members’ pensions grow by different amounts. It covers the Civil Service, NHS, Teachers’, Local Government, Armed Forces, Police and Firefighters’ schemes.
In short
- Public service pensions in payment rise each April by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for the 12 months to the previous September.
- September 2026 CPI was 3.5%, so the April 2027 increase is expected to be 3.5%. Last year’s was 3.8%, from 6 April 2026.
- Deferred pensions, the ones you’ve left behind in a scheme, are increased in the same way.
- If your pension started less than a year before the increase, you get a part-year increase, worked out by complete months.
- If you retired early and are under 55, your own pension usually isn’t increased until you reach 55. Ill-health, survivors’ and some other pensions are exceptions.
- Still working? Your pension grows by your scheme’s revaluation rate instead, which is CPI plus a fixed amount in some schemes and earnings-linked in others.
- The State Pension is separate. Its increase is set by the triple lock and announced around the Budget on 28 October.
Want to know when it’s confirmed?
The 3.5% becomes official when the government makes the Pensions Increase (Review) Order 2027, usually in the spring. The Pension Plain Briefing, a free email every fortnight, will tell you when it is.
Civil Service pension increase 2027
If you have a Civil Service pension in payment, from classic, classic plus, premium, nuvos or alpha, the expected April 2027 increase is 3.5%, as long as it has been paid for a full year. Deferred Civil Service pensions rise by the same 3.5%.
If you are still working, your alpha pension and any nuvos pension grow by CPI, so 3.5% for April 2027. Classic, classic plus and premium service keeps its link to your final salary instead. Our guide to the Civil Service Pension Scheme explains each section.
The scheme is run by Capita. If your payment doesn’t change in April and you think it should, our guide to the Capita delays sets out what is happening.
How the 2027 public service pension increase is set
Two old Acts of Parliament do the work. The Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 says public service pensions are increased, and section 59 of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 ties the rate to the annual review of prices. Each year the government then makes a short order, the Pensions Increase (Review) Order, which sets the percentage and the date.
The figure it uses is CPI inflation for the 12 months to September. That’s why the September figure, published in October, is the one that matters: it fixes next April’s increase about six months in advance.
Last year shows the pattern. September 2025 CPI was 3.8%, and the Pensions Increase (Review) Order 2026 then raised pensions that began before 7 April 2025 “by 3.8 per cent”, coming into force on 6 April 2026.
For April 2027 the steps run the same way. ONS published September 2026 CPI on 21 October. The government is expected to make the 2027 Order in the spring, and the increase would then apply from April 2027. That Order doesn’t exist yet, so until it is made the figure in this article is the expected rate, not a confirmed one.
Depending on when in the month your pension is paid, your April payment may include only part of the new rate, with the full amount from your next payment.
Who gets the April 2027 increase
Pensions in payment
If your pension has been in payment for a full year by April 2027, it rises by the full 3.5%. That applies across the schemes this guide covers, and it includes pensions paid to widows, widowers, civil partners and children.
Pensions that started during the year
A pension that started less than a year before the increase gets a proportion of it. In the 2026 Order the rule for pensions that began on or after 7 April 2025 was the full rate multiplied by the number of complete months in payment, divided by 12. So a pension that had been paid for six complete months got half the rise. If the 2027 Order follows the same pattern, pensions that began on or after 7 April 2026 will be treated the same way.
Deferred pensions
If you’ve left a scheme and your pension is waiting for you, it’s increased by the same annual rate while it waits. You don’t see the rise year by year because nothing is being paid, but it builds up and is included when your pension starts.
The age-55 rule
This is the part that catches people out. Under section 3 of the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971, a pension paid for your own service “shall not be increased unless the pensioner” has reached 55, or falls into one of the exceptions.
The main exceptions in the Act are:
- you retired on account of “physical or mental infirmity”, in other words an ill-health retirement;
- you have at least one dependant;
- the pension is a relevant injury pension;
- the pension is paid to a survivor, such as a widow, widower, civil partner or child, rather than for your own service.
If none of those apply and you took your pension before 55, the increases aren’t lost. They are held back, and when you reach 55 your pension goes up to the level it would have reached with every increase since it started. You don’t get arrears for the years before 55. Armed Forces pensioners on AFPS 75 will recognise this, because it’s one of the reasons their pension jumps at 55. Our guide to the AFPS 75 increase at 55 explains how that works.
If you’re still working: revaluation, not the pension increase
The pension increase is for pensions in payment and deferred pensions. If you’re still paying into a career average scheme, the pension you’ve built up grows in a different way, called revaluation, and the rate depends on your scheme. Several schemes add a fixed amount on top of CPI, and two use earnings instead.
Here’s how each scheme’s 2015 career average section works for active members, with the rate applied in April 2026 and what September 2026 CPI means for April 2027 where the rate follows CPI. At 3.5%, that comes to 5.0% for NHS 2015, 5.1% for Teachers’ 2015, 4.75% for Police 2015, and 3.5% for alpha and the LGPS.
| Scheme (career average section) | How active pensions are revalued | Applied in April 2026 | April 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil Service alpha | CPI | 3.8% | 3.5% |
| NHS 2015 | CPI plus 1.5% | 5.3% | 5.0% |
| Teachers’ 2015 | CPI plus 1.6% | 5.4% | 5.1% |
| LGPS 2014 (England and Wales) | CPI | 3.8% | 3.5% |
| Police 2015 | CPI plus 1.25% | 5.05% | 4.75% |
| Firefighters 2015 | Average earnings | 4.8% | Set by earnings, not CPI |
| AFPS 15 (while serving) | Average earnings | 4.8% | Set by earnings, not CPI |
A few notes on the table. The NHS figure of 5.3% for April 2026 comes from the NHS Scotland scheme’s own circular, which describes active member revaluation as “CPI plus 1.5%”; the England and Wales scheme uses the same formula. The Firefighters’ 2015 scheme says its active member revaluation “reflects growth in average earnings”, and AFPS 15 also uses earnings while you serve, switching to CPI once you leave. For the Police 2015 scheme, the Home Office has said the revaluation date is being moved to line up with the tax year from April 2027, to stop mismatched CPI figures creating unexpected annual allowance charges. The formula itself isn’t changing.
If you have both legacy final salary service and career average service, as many McCloud-affected members do, each part follows its own rules. Our guide to legacy and 2015 schemes sets out the differences.
Guaranteed Minimum Pension: a different rule for one slice
If you were in a scheme that was contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme between 1978 and 1997, part of your pension may be a Guaranteed Minimum Pension. That slice has its own increase rules, which are partly capped, and the way it is topped up depends on when you reach State Pension age. For most public service pensioners the combined result still tracks prices, but the detail is technical. Your scheme’s pensioner guidance will show whether you have a GMP and how it is increased.
The State Pension is a separate decision
It’s easy to mix the two up, because both increases take effect in April. The State Pension rises by the triple lock: the highest of average earnings growth, September CPI or 2.5%. That decision is announced around the Budget on 28 October 2026. Your public service pension rises by CPI alone, whatever the triple lock produces. If you see a headline about “pensions rising by” a figure other than September’s CPI, it’s almost certainly about the State Pension. The two are taxed together, though, and from April 2027 that starts to show: how your State Pension and scheme pension are taxed as one.
Where to see your new pension amount
Schemes usually write to pensioners, or post in their member portals, in March or April to confirm the new annual amount. The increase is applied automatically, so there’s nothing to claim. If your pension doesn’t change in April and you think it should, check first whether the age-55 rule applies to you, then contact your scheme administrator. Our guide to who to ask about a public service pension problem lists the right contact for each scheme.
Frequently asked questions
How much will public service pensions rise in April 2027?
By September 2026’s CPI rate, which ONS published on 21 October 2026 as 3.5%. The rise is confirmed when the government makes the Pensions Increase (Review) Order 2027, usually in the spring.
When will I see the increase?
From April 2027. Last year the Order came into force on 6 April. Depending on your payment date, the April payment may include only part of it.
Why hasn’t my pension gone up? I retired early.
If you took your own pension before 55, it usually isn’t increased until you reach 55, unless you retired on ill-health grounds, have a dependant or receive a relevant injury pension. At 55 it jumps to the level it would have reached with all the increases, without arrears.
Does the increase apply to my deferred pension?
Yes. Deferred pensions are increased by the same annual rate while they wait, and the increases are built in when the pension is paid.
Is this the same as the State Pension increase?
No. The State Pension follows the triple lock, announced around the Budget on 28 October 2026. Public service pensions follow September CPI only.
My pension started in 2026. Do I get the full rise?
Probably not. In 2026, pensions that had been paid for less than a year received the rate multiplied by complete months in payment, divided by 12. The 2027 Order is expected to work the same way.
Pension Plain’s take
There is something reassuring in how mechanical this is. No minister chooses your increase; a statistician measures it. The traps are at the edges. The age-55 rule surprises early retirees every year, and the gap between the pension increase and active revaluation means two colleagues in the same scheme can see different figures on the same day. Knowing which one applies to you is most of the work.
Where to get help
Pension Plain explains how the rules work. It does not give financial advice, and nothing here is a recommendation about any pension decision.
- Your scheme administrator holds your record and can confirm your new amount and whether any rule applies to you.
- 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
- Office for National Statistics, Consumer price inflation, UK: September 2026, release of 21 October 2026.
- The Pensions Increase (Review) Order 2026, SI 2026/256, in force 6 April 2026.
- HM Treasury, Public service pensions increase: 2026.
- Pensions (Increase) Act 1971, section 3 (the age-55 rule and its exceptions).
- Social Security Pensions Act 1975, section 59.
- Scottish Public Pensions Agency, NHS Circular 2026/02: Pensions Increase and CARE scheme revaluation, 3 March 2026.
- Firefighters’ Pension Scheme, FPS annual updates 2026.
- Home Office, Circular 012/2026: CPI and the Police Pension Scheme 2015, 11 September 2026.
- Forces Pension Society, AFPS indexation and revaluation 2026.