Classic, Premium, Nuvos or Alpha: Your Prison Pension Scheme

In shortYou are building pension in alpha whatever your age or service, but most long-serving officers also hold older slices that pay at different ages.

If you are a serving prison officer in England, Wales or Scotland today, you are building pension in alpha, a career-average scheme.

That is true whatever your age and however long you have served, because the Civil Service Pension Scheme closed all its older sections to new accrual after 31 March 2022 and moved every remaining active member into alpha from 1 April 2022.

The same applies to a new recruit, who can choose alpha or the money-purchase partnership account.

Joined in the 1990s

May hold classic benefits.

Joined in the 2000s

May hold premium or classic plus.

Joined between 2007 and 2015

May hold nuvos.

Served since 2015

Everyone holds some alpha. Most long-serving officers therefore have a mixed pension, with a slice from an older scheme and a slice from alpha. Your annual benefit statement shows each slice.

• What each section is, who was in it and how they compare.
• Why the older sections still matter: they pay out at different ages, and many officers may have a choice between them and alpha for 2015 to 2022 under the McCloud remedy.
• The one prison-specific rule hidden in the old scheme documents: the age-55 provision for officers in post on 30 September 1987.

In shortClassic, premium and classic plus are final-salary; nuvos and alpha are career-average, and only alpha is open to new accrual.

The Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) is made up of sections that opened at different times. A separate defined-contribution partnership account is available alongside them.

In shortMost prison officers who joined before 2015 have two or three pension slices, because of the 2015 and 2022 moves.

Your scheme depends on when you first joined the civil service and what happened at the two big changes.

• At the 2015 reforms the government moved most members into alpha, but older members kept their old scheme.
• The people closest to retirement were protected until 1 April 2022, and some were given tapered protection and moved at later dates.
• On 1 April 2022 every remaining member moved to alpha.
• So an officer who joined in 1995 may have classic service to 2015 or 2022 and alpha afterwards, while one who joined in 2010 may have nuvos to 2015 and alpha afterwards.

In shortClassic pays reckonable service times pensionable earnings divided by 80, plus an automatic lump sum of three times the pension.

• Annual pensionService x earnings / 80Reckonable service multiplied by pensionable earnings, divided by 80
• Automatic lump sum3 x pensionTax-free; further exchange at £12 for each £1 of pension given up, within HMRC limits
• Normal pension age60Earliest 50 if you joined before 6 April 2006, 55 on or after; reduced for early payment
• Survivor pension50%The highest in the GAD table

An illustration with plain numbers: an officer with 30 years of classic service and final pensionable earnings of £36,000 would have an annual pension of 30 x £36,000 / 80, which is £13,500, and an automatic lump sum of £40,500.

These are made-up inputs to show the arithmetic, not a prediction of any real pension, and the actual calculation uses the scheme's rules on reckonable service and pensionable earnings.

In shortPremium accrues faster (1/60th) but has no automatic lump sum; classic plus splits service at 1 October 2002; both allow an unreduced pension at 60.

• Premium annual pensionService x earnings / 60No automatic lump sum
• Illustration: 30 years at £36,000£18,000 a year30 x £36,000 / 60; made-up inputs
• Exchanging pension for cash£36,000 lump sumGiving up £3,000 a year at £12 for each £1 produces a £36,000 lump sum, leaving £15,000 a year

Classic plus combines the two for people who were in classic at 1 October 2002 and chose to move: service before that date is calculated on classic rules, with the automatic lump sum on that part, and service after it on premium rules. The illustration is the same arithmetic split in two.

• Premium and classic plus have a normal pension age of 60 and the same early retirement ages as classic.
• If you stay in work after 60 there is a late-retirement increase, though we did not extract the factors.
• They allow an unreduced pension at 60, eight years earlier than State Pension age 68 for younger officers.
• We could not verify the survivor percentage for classic plus, so rely on your statement for that.

In shortNuvos is career average with a normal pension age of 65, so for a younger officer nuvos service can be drawn earlier without reduction than alpha service.

• Accrual2.3% a yearOf pensionable earnings, revalued each year in line with prices
• Normal pension age65Same minimum as alpha, but alpha rises with State Pension age
• Earliest early retirement55With a reduction; no automatic lump sum

The pension built in each year stays valuable over time, regardless of later pay. Unlike classic and premium, nuvos has no final-salary link.

• There is no automatic lump sum, though you can exchange pension for a tax-free lump sum within limits.
• A prison officer who joined between the 2007 section opening and 31 March 2015 will typically hold nuvos service until their move to alpha.
• When the remedy applies, nuvos is the legacy option for that period, with its pension age of 65 rather than State Pension age.

In shortAlpha adds 2.32% of each year's pensionable earnings, has a normal pension age of State Pension age or 65 if later, and no automatic lump sum.

• Accrual2.32% a yearScheme year 1 April to 31 March; revalued each April by CPI while active
• Normal pension ageState Pension age or 65The later of the two
• Earliest early retirement55, then 5757 from 6 April 2028; permanent reduction
• Employer contribution28.97%Until 1 April 2027

The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 gives age 60 only to firefighters, police and the armed forces, and prison officers are not on that list. Alpha has no automatic lump sum, but you can give up £1 of annual pension for £12 of tax-free lump sum within HMRC limits.

Member contribution rates, 2026/27

4.60% on earnings up to £36,199, 5.45% from £36,200 to £56,000, 7.35% from £56,001 to £150,000 and 8.05% above, applied to all pensionable earnings.

Qualifying service

You need two years' qualifying service to get a pension in alpha; with less you can take a refund of your own contributions or a cash transfer sum.

In shortPrison officers in post on 30 September 1987 have a pension age of 55 and double-length service after 20 years, but few remain in service and the interaction with the remedy is unverified.

• Pension age55Officers in post on 30 September 1987 (31 October 1987 in the Scottish Prison Service)
• Double reckoningAfter 20 yearsFurther service as a prison officer counts at double length
• Reckonable service limit32 years 182 days45 years with double reckoning; service before 1 March 2008 over 30 or 40 years is not counted

Hidden in the 1972 (classic) section is a rule specific to prison officers. The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (Amendment) Scheme 2026, published on 29 June 2026 with Schedule 1 effective from 1 July 2026, restates rule 2.27.

• Rule 2.26 defines service as a prison officer by reference to grades or pay bands listed in Appendix 5 to the 1972 section, which the 2026 amendment allows to be updated administratively.
• The same amendment removed the joint-declaration requirement for unmarried partners' pensions, following the *Brewster* case, and added National Security Act 2023 offences to the forfeiture provisions of the legacy scheme.

In shortThe older sections hold the pension already built, are one side of the McCloud choice, and affect early retirement.

1. The pension you have already built

Every officer who joined before 2015 should know which slice is classic, premium, classic plus or nuvos, because each pays at a different age. The 'unreduced age' of your pension is a patchwork.

2. The McCloud remedy choice

For service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 you may get to choose between the legacy scheme and alpha. See our full guide to the McCloud remedy for prison officers. The Cabinet Office response says legacy remedy service carries the legacy scheme's pension age, which is 60 for classic, premium and classic plus and 65 for nuvos.

3. Early retirement

Taking a legacy slice before its normal pension age is reduced, but the earliest age is 50 or 55 depending on joining date. A mixed pension may therefore be taken at different ages for different slices, subject to scheme rules and your wishes.

In shortYour annual benefit statement lists benefits by scheme: read it for scheme names, pension in each and the unreduced date, and correct errors before retirement.

The quickest route is your annual benefit statement, which lists benefits by scheme. Since Capita took over on 1 December 2025, members may have had to re-register on the new portal, and some tools have been slower to arrive, so plan time for this.

The CSPS website has an 'Am I affected?' tool for the remedy and a set of calculators; the early and partial retirement calculators are current for retirement dates on or after 1 November 2026.

1. Log in to the Civil Service Pension Scheme portal and download your latest annual benefit statement.
2. List each scheme named on it and the pension and service in each.
3. Note the normal pension age of each slice and any earliest early-retirement age.
4. Check the dates of any transfers in, career breaks or periods of part-time work.
5. If you served before 30 September 1987, ask in writing whether rule 2.27 applies to you.
6. Use the remedy 'Am I affected?' tool and keep a note of the result.