North Yorkshire Pension Fund

Increasing Your Benefits

There are two ways to increase your pension benefits and save a bit extra towards retirement.

Increasing Your Benefits - Additional Pension Contributions (APCs)

If you are in the main section of the pension scheme you can pay additional pension contributions to buy up to £7,026 of extra pension. Any extra pension you buy would be payable each year of retirement on top of your normal pension. If you retire before your normal pension age, the extra pension you have bought will be reduced for early payment.

You can choose to pay regular monthly contributions over a number of complete years or make a lump sum payment. If you pay monthly, the APCs would be deducted from your pay before tax.

If you wish to make a lump sum payment you can do so through your pay or directly to the North Yorkshire Pension Fund (NYPF). If you make payment directly to the NYPF you would need to arrange tax relief with HMRC.

If you are interested in paying APCs please use the online calculator to calculate the cost. The calculator can be found here.

Before you purchase APCs you are required to have a medical examination. You should make an appointment for a medical with your GP and also ask him/her to complete the form. Any cost of the examination must be met by you. The APC contract will only start once the NYPF has received the completed medical questionnaire and your signed election form to start an APC contract.

Increasing Your Benefits - Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)

As a member of the North Yorkshire Pension Fund (NYPF) you can pay AVCS through the Prudential, our in-house AVC provider. Paying in-house AVCs builds up a pot of money to provide additional benefits at retirement. You have your own account and can decide how the money is invested. At retirement you can take some or all of your AVC as tax free cash or use it to buy extra pension. Please see the Scheme Guide and the AVC Guide for more information.

You can pay AVCs if you are in the main scheme or the 50/50 scheme.

AVCs are deducted from your pay before tax. If you are a tax payer you receive tax relief automatically.

For example:
If you pay tax at 20%, £100 of extra saving only costs you £80
If you pay tax at 40%, £100 of extra saving only costs you £60

The amount the value of your pension can increase each year without incurring a tax charge is set by HMRC and is known as the annual allowance (AA). The AA is currently set at £40,000.

Most people will be able to pay AVCs without exceeding the AA limit but if you are considering paying a large amount in AVCs in any year you should check on how the AA applies to you by contacting the NYPF.

You can get further information on paying AVCs by calling Prudential's Retirement Specialists on 0800 032 6674. Lines are open between 9am and 6pm, Monday to Friday; calls may be monitored or recorded for quality and security purposes.

Alternatively, visit the Local Government AVC website for more information including how to set up your AVCs online.