Alpha Pension Explained for Prison Officers: 2026/27 Guide

In shortAlpha is the career average (CARE) section of the Civil Service Pension Scheme that every active member has built benefits in since 1 April 2022.

Alpha is the name of the career average revalued earnings (CARE) section of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, introduced on 1 April 2015 for most members. Under the McCloud remedy and the closing of the older sections, every active member has built benefits in alpha since 1 April 2022, whatever their age.

Prison officers in England, Wales and Scotland are covered. Northern Ireland Prison Service officers are in the separate NICS scheme, which also has an alpha section but different contribution bands.

In shortBasic pay counts; the 20% unsocial working hours allowance is described as pensionable; Payment Plus, market supplements and overtime are not confirmed, so treat them as not pensionable until HR says otherwise.

Your pensionable earnings are your basic pay plus any allowances that the scheme manager treats as pensionable, whether permanent or fluctuating, and some benefits in kind (regulation 26 of the 2014 regulations). Which prison pay elements are pensionable is not published in one clean list that we could verify.

What we can say from our pay research is that the PSPRB and HMPPS describe the unsocial working hours (UWH) allowance for Bands 3 to 5 (20% of contracted hours) and the Required Hours Addition for Bands 7 to 11 (20% of base) as pensionable.

That matters because the published 37-hour figures include them. Band 3 pay point 1 is £29,107 base, and £34,928 with the 20% UWH allowance. If the whole £34,928 is pensionable, your 2026/27 contribution is based on £34,928, and so is your accrual.

In shortEach scheme year your account is credited with 2.32% of the pensionable earnings you received in it, so each £1,000 of pay adds £23.20 of annual pension.

• At £34,928£810.3334,928 x 0.0232, one year
• At £36,778£853.25One year
• At £44,900£1,041.68One year
• Rule of thumb£23.20Of annual pension per £1,000 of pensionable pay

At the end of each scheme year, 1 April to 31 March, your pension account is credited with 2.32% of the pensionable earnings you received in that year. The pension is shown as a pounds-a-year figure. Added pension and EPA portions accrue separately.

If you work part-time, alpha builds on the pensionable earnings you actually receive, so fewer hours means a smaller block for that year, unlike the final salary sections, which count reckonable service.

Here is one year of the formula at three published 2026/27 pay levels, assuming everything in the figure is pensionable. Those blocks are the numbers that sit in your Annual Benefit Statement, and they are then revalued every 1 April.

In shortYour accrued pension is revalued by CPI each 1 April while you are active and increased by pensions increase once deferred or in payment; the April 2026 figure is 3.8%.

• 2025 revaluation (factsheet example)1.70%£371.20 block adds £6.31
• September 2025 CPI3.8%Used for pensions increase from 6 April 2026
• £10,000 accrued pension revalued by 3.8%£10,380Arithmetic, assuming the 3.8% applies

Every 1 April, while you are an active member, your accrued pension is revalued by CPI measured from September to September. The CSPS alpha factsheet shows a 2025 increase of 1.70%, for example applying to a £371.20 block to add £6.31.

The CPI figure for September 2025 was 3.8%, which is the rate used for public service pensions increase from 6 April 2026, published on GOV.UK on 26 February 2026. We could not open the GB revaluation order itself, so check the April 2026 revaluation on your own statement.

In shortAn illustrative 30-year officer builds £28,209.35 a year before revaluation and pays £64,783.20 in contributions before tax relief (arithmetic on illustrative inputs, not a forecast).

Take an illustrative officer who joins at Band 3 pay point 1 and works 30 years. Assume, for simplicity, that pay stays at today’s published levels (so we are working in real terms) and that all of it is pensionable.

In shortYou need two years of qualifying service for a pension; leave with two or more and you keep a deferred pension, with less you can usually take a refund.

To be entitled to an alpha pension you need two years of qualifying service. The details are in the 2014 regulations (regulation 60) and the Northern Ireland alpha guide, which follows the same rules text.

In shortYou can start alpha from 55 (57 from 6 April 2028) with a permanent reduction, commute pension for a £12 for £1 lump sum, or buy an EPA portion paid unreduced up to three years early but never before 65.

• Earliest start5557 from 6 April 2028
• Lump sum rate£12 for £1Within the £268,275 allowance
• EPA1, 2 or 3 yearsBefore NPA, never before 65

You can start an alpha pension from age 55 (57 from 6 April 2028). Before your normal pension age, the pension is permanently reduced by an actuarial factor determined by the scheme manager from Government Actuary’s Department tables. The full position is in prison officer early retirement.

In shortIll-health retirement is for active members in two tiers, a death in service lump sum and a 37.5% survivor pension are available, and divorce has its own routes.

Ill-health retirement is available only to active members, through the Scheme Medical Adviser, in two tiers, and not after you have reached your normal pension age. Lower tier pays your whole accrued alpha pension immediately without the early-payment reduction. Upper tier adds an enhancement.

You must appeal in writing within three months of your employer notifying you of the medical adviser’s report, in a three-stage process ending with an independent Medical Appeal Board. See prison officer ill-health retirement.

• Death in service: a lump sum can be paid of the greater of two times final pay and five times the annual pension, and a pension of 37.5% of yours goes to a surviving spouse, civil partner or financially interdependent partner, with children’s pensions on top. See death in service benefits and survivor pensions.
• Divorce: your pension can be dealt with by a pension sharing order, an earmarking order or an attachment order, and a pension credit member has rights in alpha. The sharing factors and costs are not something we verified, so take legal advice and ask CSPS for a cash equivalent. See prison officer pension and divorce.

In shortCompare your Annual Benefit Statement with your own pay-times-2.32% arithmetic, and raise any gap in writing.

Your Annual Benefit Statement is the starting point. It shows the pension you have built to date, the pension you could expect at normal pension age if you continue, and sometimes an early-retirement estimate. Compare it with what you can work out.

Statements and online modellers were disrupted after the Capita handover, so errors are possible. Look for missing years, a wrong pay figure and any remedy-period split that does not match your records.

The CSPS says that any quote from its calculators is an estimate only, and the early retirement estimator uses the new factors for dates from 1 November 2026.

1. Download your latest Annual Benefit Statement and note the pension built to date and its date.
2. List your pensionable pay for each scheme year from payslips or your HR record.
3. Multiply each year’s pensionable pay by 2.32% and add them up for a rough pre-revaluation figure.
4. Compare the total with the statement, allowing for CPI revaluation each 1 April on the older years.
5. If the gap is more than a few pounds, ask the scheme to explain it in writing and keep the reply.

In shortThe big five: treating alpha as final salary, assuming every pound is pensionable, missing the contribution band effect, using out-of-date tables, and not keeping records.

If you spot something that looks wrong, raise it early and in writing. For contribution questions see prison officer pension contribution rates, and for retirement-age questions see prison officer pension age.