DB Pension (Defined Benefit)

Summary

• Enter the gross annual pension from your Annual Benefit Statement, with a start age matching when you'll actually draw it.
• Most public sector schemes are CPI-linked; check your scheme rules for private sector ones.
• Commutation and phased retirement are modelled as separate entries rather than one adjusted figure.

Entering a DB pension

Also known as final salary or career average. Enter the gross annual pension shown on your most recent Annual Benefit Statement, and set the start age to when you actually plan to draw it — not necessarily your scheme's normal pension age. Most public sector schemes (NHS, Teachers', Civil Service, LGPS) are CPI-linked; check your scheme rules for private sector ones.

Commuting part of your pension for a lump sum, or retiring early on a reduced pension? Ask your scheme for your reduced annual figure and enter that instead of the unreduced amount from your statement. Then, if you're also commuting part of it into a lump sum, add that lump sum separately as a Planned Lump Sum on the account it lands in — the reduced pension and the lump sum are two entries covering the two halves of the transaction.

To compare different retirement ages or commutation amounts side by side, Duplicate your plan for each option and use the Compare tool under My Plans.

Phased retirement? Add a second DB entry — one from your phased-retirement age for the partial amount, one from your full-retirement age for the top-up. Entries add together automatically.

Frequently asked questions

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