When you leave the Company, if you are under the minimum retirement age (which is currently 55), your pension will become deferred in the Scheme. Your deferred pension is calculated by taking your Pensionable Service and Final Pensionable Earnings at the date you left employment to calculate your pension using the same formula as for Normal retirement, but using your service up to your date of leaving.
The pension that is calculated is payable from age 65. You can apply to take the pension early, but it will be reduced to reflect the longer payment period. Early retirement is granted at the discretion of the Trustees and will only be approved if the reduced early retirement pension exceeds any Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) that the Scheme must pay from your GMP Payment Date. Please see the Contracting Out section of the Scheme booklet for more information.
Once your pension is deferred, it will be revalued (or increased) each year between the date that you leave and the date you take your benefits. Your pension will be split into a number of periods of service and the increase applied differently to each part. You can find more information on how the increases are applied here.
If you are over 55 when you leave the Company, you may wish to speak to your local HR department before you leave to discuss taking early retirement directly from leaving employment. The early retirement terms are better for active employees. For more information on the early retirement terms that apply when retiring as an active employee or as a Deferred member, please click here.
If you are suffering from a medical condition that means you are permanently unable to perform your role within the Company, you may be able to apply to take your benefits early. Please click here for more information.