If you have two of more years of scheme service you can choose to preserve your lump sum and pension benefits in the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority pension scheme. These will become payable when you reach scheme retirement age, and will be calculated in the same way as for normal retirement but based on your final earnings and scheme service at the date you leave. Your preserved benefits would therefore be:
1/80 X final earnings X scheme service
and
3/80 X final earnings X scheme service
If you owe amounts for example because of options which you have taken during your scheme service these will be deducted from your preserved lump sum. If you need any further information about amounts which you may owe to the scheme, please contact your Local Pensions Officer or the Pensions Administration Office, Thurso.
Preserved benefits attract the same increases as pensions in payment and therefore increase in value while they are preserved.
If you have been awarded a preserved pension and preserved lump sum and you fall ill before reaching retirement age your pension benefits may be paid immediately, providing the scheme medical advisers confirm that your medical condition would have led to your retirement on medical grounds had you still been in the service of your former employer.
There is a process which is strictly applied and includes criteria which must be met in full before early payment of preserved benefits on ill-health grounds can be approved.
The Authority may, at their discretion, bring your preserved pension and preserved lump sum into payment (separately or together) if you are over age 50, and there are personal circumstances which prevent you from seeking work.
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