NHS pension calculator
The NHS 2015 scheme builds your pension from 1/54 of your pay every year, revalued to retirement. Enter your pay and service for a plain estimate of the yearly pension.
How the 2015 CARE scheme works
The 2015 scheme is a career average revalued earnings, or CARE, pension. It does not use your final salary. Instead, each year you earn a pension slice worth 1/54 of your pensionable pay for that year. That slice is added to a running pot and revalued every year until you retire, using a rate set by Treasury Order plus 1.5% for active members. Because each year is banked and grown separately, your pay across your whole career matters, not just your pay at the end.
This tool keeps the arithmetic simple. It assumes your pay roughly keeps pace with revaluation, so every year stays worth about a fifty-fourth of your current pay in today’s money. The estimate is your pay divided by 54, then multiplied by your years of service. It is a guide, not a promise. The official annual benefit statement from NHS Pensions, or your Total Reward Statement, is the definitive figure.
Worked example
Take pensionable pay of £35,000 and 30 years in the 2015 scheme. Each year builds £648 of pension, because £35,000 divided by 54 is £648.15. Over 30 years that adds up to about £19,444 a year, or £1,620 a month. That is roughly 55.6% of the pay used here. Service before 2015 in the older final-salary sections would come on top of this.
Common questions
How does the NHS 2015 pension build up?
The 2015 scheme is career average, not final salary. Each year you add a slice worth 1/54 of that year’s pensionable pay to your pension. Every slice is then revalued each year until you retire, so early years keep their value. At retirement all the slices are added together.
Is this the same as my old 1995 or 2008 NHS pension?
No. Service before 2015 sits in the older final-salary sections and is worked out separately, using a different accrual rate and your pay near retirement. This tool only estimates the 2015 CARE part, so add any older benefits on top.
How accurate is this estimate?
It is a rough guide only. It assumes your pensionable pay keeps pace with the scheme revaluation, so each year stays worth about £648 of pension in today’s money. Your official annual benefit statement from NHS Pensions, or the Total Reward Statement, is the definitive figure.
Can I take a tax-free lump sum from the 2015 scheme?
The 2015 scheme pays a pension with no automatic lump sum, but you can give up some annual pension to take a tax-free lump sum at retirement, known as commutation. Doing that lowers the yearly pension this tool shows.