Combined Nuclear Pension Plan

The Combined Nuclear Pension Plan is an occupational pension scheme for people working for employers that participate in it, mostly in the nuclear industry. It builds two different kinds of pension: Final Salary benefits for Pensionable Service up to 31 March 2024, and Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) benefits from 1 April 2024¹. Both you and your employer pay in¹.

What you pay depends on what you earn. In the 2026/27 earnings bands, members with Pensionable Earnings of £13,945 to £54,509 contribute 7 per cent, and those with Pensionable Earnings of £54,510 to £190,147 contribute 9 per cent². Tax relief reduces what that costs you out of your pay.

The Plan is not open to the general public. GPS members had to have been an active, deferred or pensioner member of the GPS, or someone receiving a spouse's, child or dependant's pension, and to have transferred into the Plan on 1 April 2012¹. If you are eligible and in employment with a participating employer, you are enrolled automatically and can opt out by contacting the Plan administrator³.

Final salary and career average: how the Plan builds your pension

The Plan has two layers, and which one applies to a period of service depends on when that service fell. Benefits based on Final Salary cover Pensionable Service up to 31 March 2024. Benefits based on Career Average Revalued Earnings cover service from 1 April 2024 onwards¹. A member with a long career therefore has a final salary slice for the earlier years and a CARE slice for the later ones.

The difference matters to how the pension grows. A final salary benefit is worked out from your pay at or near the end of the relevant period, so later pay rises feed into it. A CARE benefit builds up a pot of pension earned each year, revalued over time, so it does not depend on your salary at the point you leave. The Plan describes the overall design as providing an income in retirement that is payable for life and increases to provide some protection from inflation¹.

Your employer pays for more than its share of the pension. It also pays for the lump sum death in service benefits under the Plan and meets all the administrative and governance costs of providing your Final Salary and CARE benefits². That means the charges you might see deducted in a defined contribution arrangement are not taken from your pension here.

You can pay into as many pension schemes as you wish⁵, so Plan membership does not stop you saving elsewhere. The Plan also offers added voluntary contributions and added years, arranged through the Plan Administrator⁶. For how these scheme types differ more generally, see defined benefit and final salary pensions and defined contribution pensions.

Contributions: 7% or 9% of Pensionable Earnings, with tax relief

Your contribution rate is set by which earnings band your Pensionable Earnings fall into. For 2026/27, Pensionable Earnings of £13,945 to £54,509 attract a 7 per cent contribution, and £54,510 to £190,147 attract 9 per cent².

Tax relief is what makes the real cost lower than the headline percentage. You get relief on what you pay in, up to 100 per cent of your earnings, as long as you are under 75⁷. The same limit appears in independent guidance: relief is available on contributions up to 100 per cent of annual earnings⁸, or £3,600 if your earnings are lower⁹.

The Plan gives a worked example of how this feels in practice. For an employee with Pensionable Earnings of £60,000, contributing at 6 per cent and paying tax at 40 per cent, the net deduction from pay is £180, the tax relief is £120, and the total employee contribution is £300². The higher your marginal rate, the more of the contribution the tax system effectively covers.

Rates and bands are for 2026/27². For the mechanics of relief, including how higher rate relief is claimed, see pension tax relief and claiming higher rate relief.

Leaving the Plan: preserved pension or a refund of contributions

You leave the Plan in one of two ways: your employment with your employer ceases, or you choose to opt out while remaining in employment¹⁰. What happens next depends on how long you have been in.

If you have less than 30 days of Qualifying service, you receive a refund of your contributions³. If you have 30 or more days of qualifying service, your pension fund remains invested in the Plan and moves in line with investment returns between the date you leave and the date you take benefits¹⁰. That preserved pension stays in the Plan until you draw it.

Opting out is a formal step, not simply stopping payments. Members are automatically enrolled and may opt out by contacting the Plan administrator, and there is one opportunity to re-enter the Plan³. If you opt out a second time and are aged 25 or older, or have been in your employment for more than three years, rejoining is only allowed with the agreement of both the Trustee and the NDA¹.

For the wider picture on what happens to workplace pensions when employment ends, see what happens to your workplace pension when you leave a job and how do I opt out of a workplace pension and get a refund?.

Taking your pension early, including ill-health retirement

For most members the Minimum Pension Age is 55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028, unless a Protected Pension Age applies or you are retiring due to ill health⁴. That mirrors the general position for private and workplace pensions, where the earliest access age is usually 55 and rises to 57 from April 2028¹².

Ill health is the main route to taking a pension earlier than the normal age. You might be able to get your pension sooner if you are retiring due to ill health¹³, and the same applies to defined contribution pensions¹⁴. Where the scheme rules allow it, there may be special terms that enhance the pension for someone retiring early through ill health¹⁵.

For deferred members with preserved benefits, the position can be more generous still. A former member who is too ill to undertake any employment may qualify for early retirement on a preserved pension, receiving benefits immediately with no reduction for early retirement and no enhancement¹⁶. That is a specific test, and it is worth checking how it is applied in your own case.

There is also a separate rule for the most serious situations. Where life expectancy is less than a year, you can take up to 100 per cent of your pension fund as a tax-free lump sum¹⁵. If you are retiring because of cancer, you may be able to take a personal or workplace pension early depending on the rules of your scheme or employer¹⁷.

For more on this route, see taking your pension early because of ill health and when can I access my private or workplace pension?.

Who runs the Plan and how your pension is protected

Responsibility for the operation of the Plan rests with the Trustee, which includes trustee directors nominated by members¹. Workplace pension schemes generally are run by administrators or trustees¹⁸, and the Plan's day to day administration is handled by the Plan Administrator, which members contact on 0333 207 6523 or at CombinedNuclearPensionPlan@equiniti.com¹. The Plan's own guidance names Aegon as the Plan administrator in one place¹⁰ and gives an Equiniti email address in another¹; the contact number and email above are the ones the Plan publishes for member enquiries.

If something goes wrong, there is a route through the scheme first and an outside body second. The Plan's member booklet sets out the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure via the Plan Administrator, and then the Pensions Ombudsman on 0800 917 4487³. The Pensions Ombudsman can look at complaints about how a scheme has been run; for how that process works, see the Pensions Ombudsman and complaining about a pension.

Protection for a scheme like this comes from the Pension Protection Fund, which protects millions of people in the UK who are members of defined benefit pension schemes¹¹. Where a scheme is eligible and the employer fails, the PPF can step in. Its increases are capped: payments from the pension built up after 5 April 1997 rise in line with inflation each year, subject to a maximum of 2.5 per cent, and payments built up before that date do not increase¹⁹. The same 2.5 per cent cap appears in the PPF's own member booklet²⁰. For how this compares with other protection, see PPF vs FSCS protection and the Pension Protection Fund.

Does my pension from the Plan go up with inflation?

Yes, while it is in payment. Once you are receiving your pension, it increases every year in April by reference to inflation measured over the 12-month period ending in the previous September²¹. The Plan describes the pension as payable for life and increasing to provide some protection from inflation¹. Your pension is paid into your bank or building society account every month²¹.

The measure used matters, and the Plan's own wording ties the April increase to a specific inflation reading rather than to any single index by name. Public sector pensions, by comparison, are increased in line with the Consumer Price Index every April²², and ill health pensions in one public scheme are protected against inflation and increased annually in line with the Consumer Price Index²³. If you want to know exactly which measure applies to your own Plan pension, that is a question for the Plan Administrator.

Increases are not the same before and after you take your pension. While you are still building benefits, the CARE element is revalued under the Plan's rules; once in payment, the April increase applies. If the Plan ever fell into the Pension Protection Fund, the increases would change: only payments from the pension built up after 5 April 1997 would rise in line with inflation each year, subject to a maximum of 2.5 per cent, and payments built up before that date would not increase¹⁹. The Pension Schemes Act 2026 will enable the PPF to pay inflation increases, up to 2.5 per cent per year, on all or a proportion of pre-97 compensation payments where the original schemes provided for mandatory or statutory pre-97 increases²⁴.

What happens if you move to another nuclear employer

Moving between employers inside the Plan is not treated as leaving it. If you leave employment with one employer that participates in the Plan and immediately become employed by another participating employer, you are not treated as leaving the Plan, you remain entitled to earn benefits on the same basis as previously, and you continue making contributions¹⁰.

That continuity is the main practical difference between moving within the industry and moving out of it. If the new employer does not participate in the Plan, the usual leaving rules apply instead: a preserved pension if you have 30 or more days of qualifying service, or a refund of contributions if you have less than 30 days³.

Transferring out and taking advice

The Plan's position on advice is permissive rather than mandatory. You are not required to take regulated financial advice before a transfer can take place, although the Plan recommends that you contact a regulated IFA if you wish to transfer out²⁵. Defined contribution benefits may be transferred to one or more suitable arrangements, and regulated advice is not required³.

That is not universal across schemes. Members of the British Steel Pension Scheme who were thinking about taking their money out were required to take financial advice²⁶. The difference is worth knowing if you are comparing what a transfer involves in one scheme against another.

Transfers out of defined benefit arrangements carry real risk, because you give up an income payable for life and any inflation increases in exchange for a pot whose value can fall. For the general rules and risks, see transferring out of a final salary pension, what are the risks of transferring my pension? and when advice is required to transfer.

Where to get free help

Free, impartial guidance is available without paying for advice. Pension Wise offers guidance on the options for taking money from a pension, including adjustable income²⁷ and taking a whole pot²⁸. MoneyHelper covers personal pensions and the basics of how they work²⁹. Citizens Advice can help with preparing your finances for retirement¹³ and with what you can do with your pension pot¹⁴, and Age UK publishes information on workplace pensions¹⁸. If you are in Northern Ireland, nidirect covers getting information and help with pensions¹⁸.

If you are dealing with a serious illness, Macmillan publishes guidance on money questions including pensions¹⁷. For the Plan itself, the first stop is the Plan Administrator on 0333 207 6523 or at CombinedNuclearPensionPlan@equiniti.com¹.