Government Actuarys Department
The retirement calculator, which has been developed by the Government Actuarys Department (GAD) is now live for 12 different clients.
Pensions experts in GAD came up with the idea following the McCloud legal ruling. The judgment means that some public service pension scheme members will have to make a choice between the benefits provided by 2 different schemes.
The choice is between legacy schemes (typically final salary schemes) and reformed schemes (typically career average revalued earnings schemes). This is now commonly known as the 2015 Remedy.
How it works
The retirement calculator helps scheme members eligible for the 2015 Remedy make an informed decision on which scheme is better for them. It provides an illustration of the benefits scheme members could receive under the legacy and reformed schemes, under a range of assumptions.
It then allows members to compare these benefits using different retirement options, such as early or late retirement, or exchanging pension for a cash lump sum. In this way scheme members can explore the retirement options most relevant to them and check that they are making the best decision for them as an individual.
To provide members with the best possible experience, developers at GAD created the retirement calculator in Python. The power of Python to provide complex numerical information in a simple graphical format allows members to see at a glance the impact of their choices.
Bespoke platform
The GAD team has been further developing the retirement calculator to allow scheme administrators to seamlessly link it to their member data.
A bespoke platform will allow members to access all communications relating to their McCloud decision, through a single login. They can then explore if the best outcome for them is impacted by their choices for retirement.
Solutions for clients
The platform is live for 12 pension scheme clients including:
- Police (England and Wales)
- Four unfunded pension schemes in Scotland
- Civil Service (Great Britain)
GAD continues to support our public service pension scheme clients by also using our skills to develop other calculators for clients not affected by remedy.
Actuary John Bayliss said: In the retirement calculator you can see graphically which one scheme might be better for you.
Its an illustration of what the remedy might mean for public service pension scheme members affected by Remedy.
GADs retirement calculator continues to go from strength to strength, providing bespoke solutions to meet c