For pension increases your pension is split into the following parts:
- Your Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) earned before 6 April 1988
- Your GMP earned after 5 April 1988 and before 6 April 1997
- Your Scheme pension earned before 1 January 2008 in excess of the GMP
- Your Scheme pension earned after 31 December 2007.
These are explained further below:
- The GMP earned before 6 April 1988 may be increased each year by the State from the GMP Payment Date. The Scheme does not increase this element of GMP.
- The GMP earned after 5 April 1988 and before 6 April 1997 is increased each year by the Scheme from the GMP Payment Date by the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) up to a maximum of 3%. If the increase in the CPI is more than 3% a year, the State may pay the difference.
- Scheme pension earned before 1 January 2008 in excess of the GMP will be increased in line with the annual change in the Retail Price Index (RPI) subject to a maximum of 5% a year.
- Scheme pension earned after 31 December 2007 in excess of the GMP will be increased in line with the annual change in RPI subject to a maximum of 2.5% a year.
Your spouse’s pension is increased each year in the same way as your pension. The pensions payable to your children are increased each year by the Scheme by the increase in the RPI up to a maximum of 5% on service to 31 December 2007 and to a maximum of 2.5% for service from 1 January 2008.
NOTE: The increases to any GMP you may have do not begin until your GMP Payment Date. This means that, if you retire before your GMP Payment Date - your 60th birthday if you are a female and your 65th birthday if you are a male - the increases described in 3 and 4 above will apply to the whole of your pension until you reach your GMP Payment Date.