News

Pensions are constantly evolving and there may be changes that affect your membership. Therefore, it’s important to keep up to date with what’s happening.

The 2023 annual benefit statements have now been issued to all active members of the Final Salary and Retirement Balance Plan (RBP) categories of the ESPS. Log in to your myESPS account to see yours. Like previous years they are not being sent by post to members’ home addresses. 

Your Personal Statement includes important information to help manage your pension, such as the current value of your benefits, and how much your benefits could be worth when you retire. So please read it carefully when you log in. 

If you require a hardcopy these can be printed from your myESPS account. If you have any problems using your myESPS account, please contact netenquiries@railpen.com

Changes to the statement:

This year, there have been a few small changes to the statements for both ESPS and RBP members.

These include:

• Information added about the rise in pension scams and the warning signs to look out for.
• The removal of some figures that already appear in other statements where applicable. This includes the Pension Input Amount, which already features on your Pension Savings Statement, and Scheme AVC values, which are already shown on a separate statement from Standard Life.
• A change to the way that Pensionable Salary is calculated and shown on the statement. Instead of using the last basic salary on file the calculation now uses the full Pensionable Salary (PS) definition (according to the relevant ESPS section that a member belongs to). This change improves, on average, the expected benefit by up to 10%. This change does however mean that it is no longer possible to compare 2022 PS to 2023 and onwards.
• Details added about the Lifetime Allowance and how it is expected to be abolished from the 2024/2025 tax year.

These changes are designed to make sure you have all the important information to hand when thinking about your future.

You can share your thoughts on the design of the Personal Statement by completing this short online survey.

Where to find further information: 

You can find further information about your Scheme pension by using your online myESPS account. Simply log in to update your Expression of Wish, request an estimate, check or edit your contact details, and access copies of your personal documents.

If you have any questions about your Personal Statement, and can’t find the answers in your myESPS account, please contact the Scheme administrator, Railpen, by emailing enquiries@railpen.com or calling 02476 472544.

Adrian Furnell

Secretary to Trustees