Absence from work
There are a number of different circumstances which will cause you to be absent from work which can have differing effects on your pension benefits.
The different types of absence are summarised below:
- Maternity leave
- Paternity leave
- Absence through illness
- Leave on reduced or no pay
- Strike
- Absence without permission
- Jury service
- Reserve Forces leave
Maternity leave
During a period of maternity leave you pay your normal contribution rate on whatever pay you receive. If you receive less than your normal pay your membership still builds up as usual. So there is no affect on your pension benefits. The whole period of service covered by 'ordinary maternity leave' will count in full for pension purposes.
For any period of 'additional maternity leave', you may choose to pay pension contributions to cover the unpaid period in order to avoid a break in membership. You have 30 days from the date you return to work (or leave) to decide and the cost is your normal contribution rate of the pay you received immediately before your period of unpaid maternity leave commenced. Where arrears are paid, the unpaid period will count in full for pension purposes.
If you choose not to pay arrears to cover the break, you will not build up any membership for this period of service.
Adoption leave works in the same way as maternity leave.
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Paternity leave
During a period of Paternity leave you pay your normal contribution rate on whatever pay you receive. If you receive less than your normal pay your membership still builds up as usual.
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Absence through illness
During any period of absence through illness you pay your normal contribution rate on whatever pay you receive. If you receive less than your normal pay, or have a period of no pay, your membership still builds up as usual. So there is no affect on your pension benefits.
If you are absent close to retirement, this won’t affect the pay we use to work out your pension benefits, as we will use the typical pay you would have received.
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Leave on reduced or no pay
If the period of reduced or no pay is 30 days or less, you must pay your normal contributions on the pay that you would have received had you remained at work as normal and there will be no affect on your pension benefits.
If you are off for more than 30 days you must pay contributions to cover the first 30 days as above, but then have the choice as to whether to pay contributions in excess of the 30 days. The maximum period of absence for which contributions can be paid is 36 months in total. You have 30 days from returning (or leaving) to decide and the cost is your normal contribution rate of the pay you would have received. You will not build up membership for any period for which contributions are not paid.
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Strike
Absence from duty due to strike action for one or more complete days is treated in the same way as any other unpaid, unauthorised absence i.e. the service does not count for pension purposes. However, you can elect to pay pension contributions at the rate of 16% of the day(s) pay which you would have earned but for the absence. If this payment is made, the period of absence will count fully as pensionable service.
If you choose not to pay for a strike break, you will NOT build up any membership for this period.
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Absence without permission
You cannot pay contributions to cover this period of absence and so you will not build up any membership for this period of service.
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Jury service
You must pay your normal contributions (even if you are on reduced pay or not paid) so there is no affect on your pension benefits.
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Reserve Forces leave
If you go on reserve forces leave and your reserve forces pay equals or exceeds the pay you would have received if you had remained at work, you are required to pay pension contributions on the pay you receive.
If your reserve forces pay is less than the pay you would have received if you had remained in your normal employment, your pension contributions are deemed to have been paid without you actually contributing anything. The service is counted in full for pension purposes.
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