Short service benefit definition

View the related practice notes about Short service benefit

Early leavers—preservation

FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT: Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 will increase the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028 (save for members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes).The Finance Act 2022 will also give members of registered pension schemes a right to take their benefits before age 57, if on or before 4 November 2021 they either had an ‘unqualified right’ to take benefits or were in the process of a substantive transfer to a scheme offering an unqualified right to a protected pension age of less than 57 on or before 4 November 2021. To benefit from this new 2028 protection, the rules of the pension scheme must have included (on 11 February 2021) an unqualified right to take the entitlement to scheme benefits before age 57.For further information, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) to 57—pensions impact.THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES IN RELATION TO OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMESIn this Practice Note, references to the trustees...

Rights of early leavers with no short service benefit

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES TO OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES ONLYUnder the preservation legislation, a short service benefit is the pension benefit which must be provided to a member who leaves an occupational pension scheme before retirement, without receiving an immediate pension. Not all early leavers have a right to have their pension benefits preserved within the scheme. This Practice Note explores what rights and options are available to early leavers without a short service benefit.For further information generally on the preservation of benefits within schemes, see Practice Note: Early leavers—preservation.In this Practice Note, references to trustees also mean the managers of a scheme.When will an early leaver be entitled to a short service benefit?An early leaver will acquire a right to a short service benefit in an occupational pension scheme if:•from 1 October 2015, in the case of a member with money purchase benefits only, they have at least thirty days' qualifying service in the occupational pension scheme at the time they leave pensionable service•in the case of any other member,...