Prison Officer Pension Statement Explained (ABS 2026)

In shortThe ABS is a once-a-year estimate of your pension to 31 March 2026, and the easiest way to spot pay-data errors early.

The ABS is a once-a-year summary of where you stand in the pension scheme. The Civil Service Pension Scheme describes the 2026 statement as an estimate of the pension benefits you have built up in the scheme up to 31 March 2026.

It is not a contract, a guarantee, or a quote: pension amounts can change with later revaluation, corrected pay data, remedy choices, or how and when you take the benefits.

Because your pension is linked to pensionable earnings each scheme year, the statement is also the easiest way to spot errors early. Errors in pay or hours data are far easier to fix a year after the event than at retirement, when the paperwork behind an old payroll record may be hard to find.

Treat the ABS as an annual audit of your own pension, not as junk mail.

In shortUse the Member Portal on the Civil Service Pension Scheme website; Capita runs it now, so an older MyCSP login may not work.

Statements are held on the Member Portal, which you reach from the Civil Service Pension Scheme website (civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk).

The portal was relaunched when Capita took over on 1 December 2025, and members may have needed to re-register, so a login that worked in 2025 may not work now. Do not look for MyCSP: it no longer administers the scheme.

Registration normally asks for personal details such as your national insurance number and date of birth together with codes issued by the scheme; follow the portal's own guidance rather than third-party instructions.

1. Go to the Civil Service Pension Scheme website and use the member sign-in link; do not use a search-engine advert or an email link.
2. Sign in, or register if you have not used the portal since December 2025. Keep your national insurance number and employer details to hand.
3. Open the Annual Benefit Statement area, view or download the 2026 statement and save a copy outside the portal.
4. If it is missing, raise a query via the portal first; if you cannot sign in, use the website contact form or telephone number and record the date and reference.
5. If you are deferred, or have left, ask the administrator when your statement will be available, since that date had not been confirmed.

In shortWe have not published a line-by-line walkthrough of the new layout, so use these concepts to find each item on your own copy and check personal data first.

We have not published a line-by-line walkthrough of the new Capita statement layout, because we have not been able to open a sample and statement design can change between years. Instead, here are the concepts any alpha statement is built from, so you can find each on your own copy.

• Pension built up to 31 March: the headline figure
• Pensionable earnings and scheme year data used to build it
• Any added pension, EPA, transfer in or other additions
• Any older-section benefits (classic, premium, classic plus, nuvos) if you have them
• Details that decide when and how you can use the pension: your normal pension age, the minimum pension age (55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028) and whether the statement shows an illustration for retirement at a given age

In shortMultiply each year's pensionable pay by 2.32% and revalue by CPI each April; if your statement is far off, query it, whether lower or higher.

• Accrual per scheme year2.32%Of that year's pensionable earnings (1 April to 31 March)
• RevaluationCPI each AprilFactsheet example: April 2025 revaluation of 1.70%, where £371.20 gained £6.31

In alpha, each scheme year you add 2.32% of that year's pensionable earnings to your pension account. At each following 1 April the accrued pension is revalued by CPI. So a rough check on any statement is to multiply each year's pensionable pay by 2.32% and revalue.

Worked example with made-up pay: Chris has pensionable earnings of £32,000 in 2024/25 and £33,000 in 2025/26. The steps are below.

1. 2024/25 adds £32,000 x 2.32% = £742.40.
2. On 1 April 2025 that is revalued by 1.7% to £755.02.
3. 2025/26 adds £33,000 x 2.32% = £765.60.
4. At 31 March 2026 the combined pension is £755.02 + £765.60 = £1,520.62 a year.
5. On 1 April 2026 it is revalued again, and if the September 2025 CPI figure of 3.8% applies, it becomes about £1,578.40. That last step is the same CPI figure behind the 3.8% pension increase for people already retired.

In shortPre-2015 officers may hold classic, premium, classic plus or nuvos benefits and will choose at retirement, using a separate remediable service statement.

Officers who were in the scheme before April 2015 may have classic, premium, classic plus or nuvos pension as well as alpha. From 1 April 2022 everyone accrues in alpha.

McCloud remedy choice

Active and deferred members will choose at retirement whether service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 counts as legacy or alpha benefits, using a remediable service statement, which is a separate document from your ABS.

Remediable service statement

You can request one once every 12 months if you are a deferred member, and the choice is revocable until benefits become payable.

Different pension ages

Legacy and alpha benefits can come with different normal pension ages (60 for classic, premium and classic plus; 65 for nuvos), so the statement may need careful reading. We cannot say how this plays out for an individual officer, so always read what your remediable service statement shows and see our McCloud remedy guide.

Opt-out buy-back

Members who opted out between 12 March 2012 and 28 February 2022 can apply to buy back remedy-period service, with applications opened in July 2025. If your statement shows gaps where you were out of the scheme, ask whether this applies. See also classic, premium and nuvos explained.

In shortThe ABS is not a tax document; most officers are far below the £60,000 annual allowance, and the lifetime allowance was abolished from 6 April 2024.

• Annual allowance£60,000A Pension Savings Statement is sent if exceeded, if earnings were over £150,000 or on request
• Lump sum allowance£268,275Replaced the lifetime allowance from 6 April 2024
• Lump sum and death benefit allowance£1,073,100Also from 6 April 2024
• Lump sum trade£12 for every £1Pension given up to create a lump sum in alpha

The ABS is not a tax document, but some members receive a separate Pension Savings Statement. The 2025/26 statements were due by 6 October 2026. Most prison officers will be far below the annual allowance, but promoted officers with large pension growth in a year should check the annual allowance guide.

The statement figure is not compared to a lifetime limit, but the lump sum you take is limited by the allowances above.

We have not been able to verify exactly how pension input amounts are calculated for the alpha annual allowance beyond the scheme's own statement, so rely on the Pension Savings Statement if you receive one.

If you are close to a threshold, take regulated advice.

In shortThe commonest mistakes are not looking at it, treating the projection as a promise, confusing sections and using unofficial login details.

In shortWork out whether it is missing, wrong or late, raise a query via the portal with evidence, and escalate through the Internal Disputes Resolution Procedure if needed.

Start by establishing whether it is missing, wrong or late.

• Missing: raise a query via the portal or use the contact form.
• Wrong: collect evidence (payslips, contracts of hours, letters about unpaid leave) and write to the administrator, with a copy to your employer's pay or HR team, since many errors begin in employer data.
• Late: note that the scheme has said it is working through service recovery and that no one should suffer a financial loss as a result of administrative failures.