UK Pension Comparison Guide (2026/27)

A structural comparison of the main UK pension types for 2026/27: NHS Pension 2015, Teachers' Pension 2015, Civil Service alpha, Local Government Pension Scheme 2014, Police Pension 2015, Armed Forces Pension 2015, plus DC workplace auto-enrolment and private SIPP / personal pension. Accrual rates, member and employer contribution rates, revaluation, normal pension ages, and a worked 30-year projection for a £50,000 worker computed from stated assumptions. Annual Allowance taper exposure, the McCloud remedy, and the transfer-out picture. Each scheme parameter is taken from the scheme's own publications, legislation or HMRC guidance listed in the sources below.

1. Overview: DB vs DC, public vs private

UK pensions divide along two structural axes. The first is defined benefit (DB) vs defined contribution (DC): a DB scheme promises a retirement income calculated from a formula (accrual rate, years of service, revalued earnings), while a DC scheme is a pot of money invested in your name, with the retirement income depending on the size of the pot and how you draw it. The second axis is public sector vs private sector: most public-sector schemes are unfunded DB arrangements paid for out of public money as benefits fall due, while new private-sector provision is predominantly DC under workplace auto-enrolment.

The public-sector DB group covers NHS 2015, Teachers' Pension 2015, Civil Service alpha, LGPS 2014, Police 2015, Armed Forces 2015, Firefighters 2015 and the Judicial Pension Scheme 2022. All are career-average revalued earnings (CARE) schemes: LGPS in England and Wales moved to CARE in April 2014 and the others in April 2015, following the Hutton review. Private-sector DB schemes are mostly closed to new members or to future accrual. Private-sector DC covers workplace pensions under auto-enrolment plus personal pensions and SIPPs. Public-sector DC is small; the best-known example is the partnership pension account offered as an alternative to alpha in the Civil Service.

For most workers the biggest difference is employer funding. The published public-sector employer rates are 23.7% (NHS), 28.68% (Teachers'), 28.97% (alpha), 35.3% (Police, England and Wales) and 37.6% (Firefighters, England) of pensionable pay, many of them raised from April 2024 after the 2020 valuations. The statutory auto-enrolment employer minimum is 3% of qualifying earnings, a band of pay. The rest of this page walks through each scheme, then sets up a like-for-like comparison on a £50,000 salary over 30 years.

For tax mechanics that apply across every scheme - the £60,000 Annual Allowance, taper, Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA), carry forward and the Lump Sum Allowance - see the UK pension tax relief guide. To model how a contribution affects take-home pay, use the pension contribution calculator.

2. DB CARE primer and AA pension input

A CARE pension banks a fraction of each year's pensionable pay as future pension, then revalues every banked slice each following year you remain in service. The accrual rate, the revaluation index (CPI, CPI plus a fixed uplift, or an earnings index) and the normal pension age (NPA) define the shape of each scheme. Members who leave before NPA become deferred members; their benefits are then increased by the official pensions-increase figure (CPI), so any fixed in-service uplift stops.

Worked accrual. An NHS 2015 member on a £40,000 pensionable salary banks 1/54 of £40,000 = £740.74 a year of pension in year one. NHSBSA revalues that slice on 6 April the following year by CPI plus 1.5%. If pensionable pay in year two is £41,500, a new slice of £768.52 is added. After 30 years the revalued slices together form the annual pension, payable from NPA (State Pension age for the 2015 Scheme).

Annual Allowance valuation. For a DB arrangement the pension input amount is the increase in the pension over the year multiplied by 16, plus any separate lump-sum increase, with the opening value uprated by CPI first so that inflation alone does not count. The 16:1 factor is a fixed tax valuation rather than a market price. Schemes must send a Pension Savings Statement where your input to that scheme exceeds the standard Annual Allowance; the charge mechanics and scheme pays are covered in the pension tax relief guide.

Lump-sum commutation. Most DB schemes let members give up some pension for a tax-free lump sum. In LGPS 2014, AFPS 15 and JPS 2022 the rate is 12:1: every £1 a year of pension given up buys £12 of lump sum. At 12:1 the lump sum is the same as twelve years of the pension given up, before any inflation increases, so its value depends on how long you expect to draw the pension. Tax-free lump sums count against the £268,275 Lump Sum Allowance.

3. NHS Pension 2015

The NHS Pension Scheme is administered by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) for England and Wales. Scotland (SPPA) and Northern Ireland run separate NHS schemes with their own contribution tables. The 2015 Scheme is the CARE section, open since 1 April 2015, and is unfunded.

• Accrual rate: 1/54 of pensionable pay per year of service.
• Revaluation (in-service): CPI plus 1.5%, applied on 6 April each year (moved from 1 April from 2023).
• Normal pension age (NPA): State Pension age. State Pension age is 66, rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028 under the Pensions Act 2014 and to 68 between 2044 and 2046 under the Pensions Act 2007.
• Member contribution: tiered 5.2% to 12.5% of pensionable pay across six tiers in 2026/27, from up to £13,259 to £67,669 and above.
• Employer contribution: 23.7% of pensionable pay.
• Death-in-service lump sum: twice pensionable pay (the higher of pay in the last 12 months and the best revalued year).
• Adult dependant's pension: 33.75% of the member's pension.

Members with earlier service keep it in the legacy 1995 and 2008 Sections, which are final salary schemes with their own pension ages and lump-sum rules. Remedy-period service was moved back to those Sections on 1 October 2023 (see section 12). From age 55, with employer agreement, members can take part or all of their benefits and keep working and building 2015 Scheme benefits (partial retirement); NHSBSA stops the pension in payment if pensionable pay goes back above 90% of its previous level in the first 12 months. For NHS members modelling Annual Allowance exposure see the pension annual allowance calculator.

4. Teachers' Pension 2015

The Teachers' Pension Scheme covers teachers in state-funded schools and many further-education employers in England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own teachers' schemes). It is administered by Teachers' Pensions on behalf of the Department for Education and is unfunded.

• Accrual rate: 1/57 of pensionable pay per year of service, which is lower than NHS 2015 (1/54), LGPS (1/49) and alpha (1/43.1).
• Revaluation (in-service): CPI plus 1.6%; after leaving, benefits increase at the lower pensions-increase rate.
• Normal pension age (NPA): State Pension age.
• Member contribution: tiered 7.4% to 12% of pensionable pay across six tiers in 2026/27.
• Employer contribution: 28.68%, including the 0.08% administration levy.
• Death grant: three times final full-time equivalent salary for career average members who die in service.
• Adult survivor's pension: 37.5% of the career average pension earned, enhanced for death in service.

Teachers' has the largest fixed uplift over CPI of the main schemes, but only 0.1 percentage point more than NHS 2015, and its accrual rate is lower, so over a long career it builds a little less pension per pound of pay than the NHS scheme (see the worked comparison). Phased retirement, available since 1 January 2007, lets members aged 55 to 75 draw up to 75% of their benefits after a salary cut of at least 20%. Legacy final-salary benefits (the NPA 60 arrangement for members who joined before 2007 and the NPA 65 arrangement for those who joined between 2007 and 2015) continue alongside the 2015 CARE accrual.

5. Civil Service alpha

Alpha is the CARE scheme of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, open since 1 April 2015. It is run for the Cabinet Office and, since 1 December 2025, administered by Capita, which took over from MyCSP. Members can choose the partnership pension account, a DC arrangement, instead.

• Accrual rate: 2.32% of pensionable pay per year of service, equivalent to 1/43.1. This is the highest accrual rate of the main schemes on this page (JPS 2022, for judges, is higher at 2.5%).
• Revaluation: in line with prices (CPI), with no fixed uplift.
• Normal pension age (NPA): State Pension age, or 65 if later. The minimum pension age in alpha is 55.
• Member contribution: tiered 4.6% to 8.05% of pensionable earnings across four bands in 2026/27, the top rate applying above £150,000. These are the lowest member rates of the main contributory schemes.
• Employer contribution: 28.97% in every salary band in the scheme's published employer table.
• Lump sum: no automatic lump sum; members can exchange up to 25% of the total value of their benefits for tax-free cash.

Alpha's higher accrual rate offsets its CPI-only revaluation, and its low member rates make it good value for the member. Earlier service sits in the legacy classic, classic plus, premium and nuvos schemes. The McCloud remedy applies to members who were in a legacy scheme on or before 31 March 2012 (see section 12).

6. Local Government Pension Scheme 2014

The LGPS in England and Wales is run locally by 86 pension funds and, unlike the NHS, Teachers', alpha, Police and Armed Forces schemes, is funded: contributions are invested. It covers local government staff and staff of other participating employers. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own local government schemes.

• Accrual rate: 1/49 of pensionable pay per year of service.
• Revaluation: CPI.
• Normal pension age (NPA): linked to State Pension age. Members can retire at any time between 55 and 75; the earliest age rises from 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028.
• Member contribution: tiered 5.5% to 12.5% of actual pensionable pay across 9 bands in 2026/27. The 50/50 section lets members pay half the contribution for half the pension build-up while keeping full life and ill-health cover.
• Employer contribution: set for each employer by its fund at each valuation, so there is no single scheme rate.
• Commutation: 12:1.

LGPS accrues faster than NHS 2015 or Teachers' 2015, but its CPI-only revaluation more than offsets that over a long career: in the 30-year example below it ends lowest of the schemes shown. The 50/50 section is designed to help members stay in the scheme when money is tight. Because LGPS is funded, members can transfer out, unlike members of the unfunded schemes, but a transfer gives up a guaranteed, inflation-linked income.

7. Police Pension 2015

The Police Pension Scheme 2015 is the CARE scheme for police officers in England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own police schemes). It is unfunded.

• Accrual rate: 1/55.3 of pensionable pay per year of service.
• Revaluation (in-service): CPI plus 1.25%.
• Normal pension age (NPA): 60, set by section 10(2) of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013, which gives the same NPA to firefighters and the armed forces.
• Member contribution: from 1 April 2026, 12.88% of pensionable pay of £37,035 or less, 13.88% above that and below £79,588, and 14.22% from £79,588.
• Employer contribution: 35.3% of pensionable pay from 1 April 2024, the rate set by the 2020 valuation.

The Police scheme stands out for its NPA of 60 and its high member contribution rates. A police officer pays more out of pocket than NHS or Teachers' colleagues on the same pay, and can draw the pension years earlier. Earlier service sits in the legacy Police Pension Scheme 1987 and 2006 schemes, and the McCloud remedy applies in the same way as in the other unfunded schemes.

8. Armed Forces, Firefighters, Judicial

Three further public-sector CARE schemes complete the picture, each with features the main five do not share.

Armed Forces Pension 2015 (AFPS 15)

AFPS 15 covers Armed Forces personnel from 1 April 2015 and is non-contributory: members pay nothing. Each year 1/47 of pensionable earnings is added to the pension, and the total is revalued in service by the Average Weekly Earnings index. Normal pension age is 60; deferred pensions are paid from State Pension age. Personnel who leave at or after the 20/40 point (age 40 with 20 years' service) but before 60 receive an Early Departure Payment (EDP): a tax-free lump sum of 2.25 times the deferred pension and a monthly income of 34% of the deferred pension, plus 0.85% for each year served beyond the 20/40 point. The EDP income stops at State Pension age, when the deferred pension becomes payable. Pension can be commuted at 12:1. Legacy AFPS 75 and AFPS 05 benefits remain for earlier service, and the McCloud remedy applies to in-scope personnel.

Firefighters' Pension 2015

The Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2015 covers firefighters; the contribution figures here are for England (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland make their own firefighter pension regulations). Accrual is 1/59.7 of pensionable pay per year, and in-service revaluation follows the Average Weekly Earnings index rather than a prices index. Normal pension age is 60. Member contributions are tiered 11.09% to 17.09% across five bands from 1 April 2026, charged on actual pay rather than the whole-time equivalent; the employer rate is 37.6%. Legacy Firefighters' 1992 and 2006 schemes cover earlier service, and the McCloud remedy applies for the 2015-2022 remedy period.

Judicial Pension Scheme 2022

The Judicial Pension Scheme 2022 (JPS 2022) covers judicial office holders from 1 April 2022. It is a CARE scheme with a build-up rate of 2.5% (1/40) of pensionable earnings a year, revalued by the change in prices (currently CPI). Normal pension age is linked to State Pension age, and members can keep building benefits until 75, the judicial mandatory retirement age. Members pay a uniform 4.26% of pensionable earnings. JPS 2022 is tax-unregistered, so it sits outside the Annual Allowance and other registered-scheme tax limits, and commutation at 12:1 comes with a supplement to compensate for that status. The McCloud case itself was brought by judges; the judicial remedy is in Chapter 2 of the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022.

9. DC private and workplace auto-enrolment

Workplace defined contribution pensions cover most UK private-sector workers. Auto-enrolment was phased in from 2012 under the Pensions Act 2008. Every employer must enrol eligible jobholders in a qualifying workplace pension and pay at least the minimum contributions.

• Statutory minimum total: 8% of qualifying earnings.
• Employer minimum: 3% of qualifying earnings; if the employer pays more, the worker can pay less as long as the total reaches 8%.
• Worker: the balance, usually 5%. Under relief at source that 5% is 4% from net pay plus 1% basic-rate relief added by the provider; under a net pay arrangement it is deducted before tax.
• Qualifying earnings band: £6,240 to £50,270 for 2026/27. The £6,240 lower limit is the auto-enrolment band floor, set separately from the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit (£6,708 in 2026/27). The auto-enrolment earnings trigger is £10,000.

The qualifying-earnings basis matters. For a worker on £30,000, contributions are worked out on £30,000 minus £6,240 = £23,760, not on the full salary, so the 8% combined is £1,900.80 a year. On £15,000 it is £700.80 a year. At the statutory minimum the pot stays small: £700.80 to £1,900.80 a year invested for 40 years at 5% a year above inflation grows to roughly £85,000 to £230,000 in today's money.

Beyond the statutory minimum. Many employers pay more than the floor. Common structures include:

• Matching: the employer matches the worker's contribution up to a stated rate.
• Full-salary basis: contributions on the whole salary rather than the qualifying-earnings band.
• Salary sacrifice: contributions made through salary sacrifice, saving employee NI and, where the employer passes on its NI saving, adding up to 15% more to the pot.

Higher employer rates make the real difference. A 12% employer contribution on a £60,000 salary is £7,200 a year; invested for 30 years at 5% a year above inflation it grows to about £478,000 in today's money, and adding a 5% worker contribution (£3,000 a year) takes the pot to about £678,000. For a structured comparison see the salary sacrifice calculator and the pension contribution calculator.

SIPPs and personal pensions. Personal pensions and Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) sit outside the workplace structure. They use relief at source: you contribute from net pay, the provider adds basic-rate relief, and higher-rate or additional-rate relief is claimed through Self Assessment. The same £60,000 Annual Allowance applies. For most workers, taking the full workplace employer match first and topping up through a SIPP afterwards is the sensible order.

10. Worked comparison: £50,000 salary over 30 years

Assumptions. Pensionable pay starts at £50,000 and rises 3.5% a year; CPI is 2.5% a year throughout; each scheme's in-service revaluation is applied every year to all earlier slices, with Average Weekly Earnings (AFPS 15) assumed to rise in line with pay. Contribution tier thresholds are assumed to rise with pay, so the member stays in the 2026/27 tier for £50,000 throughout. Pensions are shown at the end of year 30 in cash terms and in today's money (divided by 30 years of CPI). Total pensionable pay over the 30 years is £2,581,000. The pensions are payable from each scheme's NPA, which for this worker is State Pension age except in the Police and Armed Forces schemes (60). This is an illustration of the scheme formulae, not a forecast.

DC at the statutory minimum

• Contributions: 8% of qualifying earnings, starting at £43,760 (£50,000 minus £6,240), with the band assumed to rise with pay: £3,501 in year 1.
• Total paid in over 30 years: £181,000.
• Pot at year 30, growing 5% a year above CPI: £531,000 in cash terms.
• Drawing 4% of the pot in the first year gives £21,200 (£10,100 in today's money), with no guaranteed inflation link.

DC at 10% worker plus 10% employer on full salary

• Contributions: 20% of full salary, £10,000 in year 1.
• Total paid in over 30 years: £516,000.
• Pot at year 30: £1,517,000 in cash terms.
• Drawing 4% in the first year gives £60,700 (£28,900 in today's money). DC can be drawn from the normal minimum pension age, 55 now and 57 from 6 April 2028.

What the model shows. At the statutory minimum, the first-year DC income is at most 29.4% of the lowest DB pension in the table, and unlike the DB pensions it has no guaranteed inflation link. Even at 10% plus 10% on full salary, which is well above the auto-enrolment floor, the first-year DC income is 70.1% to 83.9% of the DB pensions. Against that, DC can be drawn earlier than most of these schemes' NPAs, can be passed on when you die, and keeps the investment upside, although for deaths on or after 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds count towards the estate for Inheritance Tax (Finance Act 2026, section 66). In a DB scheme the investment and longevity risk sits with the employer, which is what the high employer contribution rates pay for.

11. AA taper exposure for senior DB members

Senior public-sector staff are most likely to meet the Annual Allowance through DB pension input: a large pay rise increases the pension input for that year sharply, because the 16:1 valuation applies to the whole increase in pension. The limits have changed several times. From 2016-17 to 2019-20 the standard allowance was £40,000 and the taper applied where threshold income was over £110,000 and adjusted income over £150,000; from 2020-21 to 2022-23 those limits were £200,000 and £240,000, with a tapered minimum of £4,000. From 2023-24 the standard allowance is £60,000 and the tapered minimum £10,000.

Who is exposed. The taper applies only when threshold income is over £200,000 and adjusted income is over £260,000. For a DB member, adjusted income adds the total pension input amount for the year minus the member's own contributions, so the 16:1 input counts directly. Each £2 of adjusted income above £260,000 removes £1 of allowance, down to the £10,000 minimum, which is reached at adjusted income of £360,000. Staff whose pay jumps on promotion to the most senior grades in the Civil Service, schools, police forces or the NHS are the ones most likely to be affected. Judges in JPS 2022 are not, because that scheme is tax-unregistered.

Mitigation levers. Scheme pays lets the scheme settle the Annual Allowance charge and reduce your pension instead of you paying cash. Carry forward lets you use unused allowance from the previous three tax years, but only after the current year's allowance is used up, and you need to work it out and report it yourself. Salary sacrifice does not get round the taper: under PTM057100, pension contributions made through a salary sacrifice or flexible remuneration arrangement made after 8 July 2015 are added back to threshold income. The full mechanics are in the pension tax relief guide; to run your own numbers use the pension annual allowance calculator.

12. McCloud remedy

The McCloud remedy responds to the Court of Appeal's December 2018 judgment in Lord Chancellor v McCloud [2018] EWCA Civ 2844, heard with the firefighters' case (Sargeant), which found that the 2015 reforms discriminated on grounds of age. Younger members were moved straight into the new CARE schemes from 1 April 2015, while members close to their normal pension age were given "transitional protection" and stayed in the legacy final-salary schemes.

The Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 treats service from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022 (the "remedy period") as remediable service where, among other conditions, the member was in a legacy scheme on or before 31 March 2012 and has had no break in service of more than five years. In the unfunded schemes, that service was moved back into the legacy scheme on 1 October 2023, and the choice between legacy and CARE benefits for it is made when the member takes their pension (or, on death, by a decision maker). The LGPS works differently: members stay in the CARE scheme and, for service from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2022, an underpin compares their benefits with what the final-salary scheme would have paid, with any addition worked out by the fund when the pension is taken.

Practical effect. Which option pays more depends on the member. Final-salary benefits tend to gain from pay rises late in a career; CARE can come out ahead where pay has been flat or the member left service early. Schemes issue Remediable Service Statements setting the two options side by side. The Civil Service scheme is now administered by Capita, NHS Pensions by NHSBSA, the Teachers' scheme by Teachers' Pensions and the LGPS by each local fund. For the statutory framework see the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022.

Related tools and guides

Cross-references and modelling tools across the SalaryTax pension stack:

• Pension tax relief guide - AA, taper, MPAA, LSA, carry forward and the three relief methods.
• Pension contribution calculator - model RAS, Net Pay or salary sacrifice for any salary.
• Pension annual allowance calculator - test AA, taper, MPAA and carry forward against your figures.
• Pension drawdown calculator - model retirement income from a DC pot.
• UFPLS calculator - uncrystallised funds pension lump-sum modelling.
• State Pension calculator - check your qualifying years and full new State Pension entitlement.
• Salary sacrifice calculator - full NIC and Income Tax modelling including employer NI pass-back.
• Salary sacrifice vs Relief at Source - side-by-side mechanics comparison.
• Workplace pension auto-enrolment - eligibility, opt-out and re-enrolment.
• NHS consultant doctor pay - pay scales and pension context.
• Teacher pay (STPCD) - statutory pay scales and TPS context.
• Civil servant pay - grade structures and alpha context.
• Police officer pay - pay scales and Police 2015 context.
• NHS nurse pay (AfC) - Agenda for Change bands and NHS 2015 context.
• Junior doctor pay - 2024 contract and NHS 2015 context.
• GP pay - GMS / PMS contracts and NHS 2015 context.
• High earner tax planning checklist - annual cadence including pension review.
• Tax year-end checklist - 5 April pension contribution deadlines.

Scheme parameters retrieved on 2026-09-30 from scheme administrator publications, legislation.gov.uk and gov.uk. Member contribution rates are the 2026/27 tables; LGPS employer rates vary by fund. See methodology and data sources.