ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Employees' Pension Fund (UREPF)
About The Fund
Membership of The ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Employees’ Pension Fund (UREPF) in one form or another has been available to eligible employees at the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø since 1938. Due to mounting financial pressure on the Fund, the University proposed various pension changes and a consultation with employees and Trade Unions was launched in March 2011. From 1 August 2011, the Fund has been closed to new entrants and the benefit structure changed from a final salary basis to a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) type basis in order to ensure the continued viability of UREPF for existing members.
The Fund’s Benefit Structure
UREPF is a defined benefit scheme. This means that members' benefits are determined by their salary rather than being linked to a fund of money they have paid into.
Prior to 1 August 2011, members built up pension on a final pensionable salary basis. On 31 July 2011, each member's final salary pension benefits were calculated and agreed. Members will receive increases to this element each subsequent 31 July up to their date of leaving, date of death or date of retirement. The increase will be measured in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) up to a maximum of 5% each year.
From 1 August 2011 onwards, pension benefits were built up on a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) basis. This means that for each scheme year (starting from 1 August and ending 31 July) members would receive an additional CARE pension credit based on 1/60th of their pensionable pay. In addition, each of the CARE pension credits accrued from previous years would be increased in line with the increase in CPI up to a maximum of 5%.
Contribution rates to UREPF are currently 6.25% of salary for employees and 23.8% for the University. A salary exchange scheme is operated by the University as this is a more effective way of paying into the scheme. Further information can be found on the Pensions+ page or in the Benefits+ handbook.
Membership of UREPF provides the following benefits:
- a pension for life,
- the option to take a one-off tax-free cash sum on retirement,
- a tax-free lump sum if a member dies whilst paying into the Fund,
- a pension for a spouse or civil partner or dependant upon death,
- pensions for eligible children upon death,
- early payment of retirement benefits if a member has to retire due to incapacity,
- tax relief on contributions paid into the Fund.
UREPF was contracted-out of the State Second Pension (S2P) with all members of the Fund automatically contracted-out until 5 April 2016. From 6 April 2016, pension schemes are no longer able to contract out of S2P and thus members no longer pay lower National Insurance contributions. Please bear this in mind when reading the Fund's literature.
Additional Voluntary Contributions Discontinued
In the annual 2018 newsletter, it was announced that members no longer have the opportunity to pay Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) to the Fund. Therefore, any further pension savings would need to be arranged through a different savings vehicle privately and the University would be unable to contribute to this.
Leaving the University
When you leave the University, Barnett Waddingham (the Fund’s administrator) will send you a leaver’s statement to your home address which will inform you of the benefits you have accrued since joining the Fund and will inform you that your pension will become deferred until retirement. Therefore, if you are due to leave the University, the Pension’s Office would recommend that you check that your home address is accurate on the Employees’ Self Service portal as this will be the address that Barnett Waddingham will use.
After you have left the University, you will no longer receive Annual Membership Statements from Barnett Waddingham. Any queries or requests regarding your pension, or any queries relating to retiring from the Fund in the future, will need to be directed to Barnett Waddingham as the University Pensions Office will lose the authority to make changes or requests on your behalf.
Retiring from the Fund
Retirement from the Fund is not automatic. If you are considering retiring from the Fund, we would recommend contacti