Broadly, a final salary scheme provides a pension based on the number of years you have been in the scheme, a fixed rate of accrual and your salary around the time you draw your benefits. The Group Pension Scheme has an 60ths accrual rate – so this means that your pension is calculated as 1/60 x Pensionable Salary or Final Pensionable Salary, whichever is the greater, for each year of your Pensionable Service. The Normal Pension Date for the Scheme is age 60, which is the date when you would normally be expected to draw your pension.

Since you are currently opted out of the Group Pension Scheme you have one opportunity to rejoin the Scheme which must be within five years of your opting out date or before your 30th birthday, if later.

If you have opted out of the Group Pension Scheme on more than one occasion, you are no longer eligible to join.  If you are unsure about this please contact the Pensions Department.

You are eligible to join on the first day of the calendar month after you have submitted a completed Application Form and provided any other information (for example in relation to your health) that is required.

You will be required to complete an Application Form to become a full member of the Scheme.  You may also be required to provide evidence of your health or about your status.

Your application must be received in the Pensions Department by the first of the month in which you wish to join the Scheme.

When you opted out of the Group Pension Scheme, your life cover was reduced to once times your Pensionable Salary.  If you rejoin the Scheme your full life cover will not be reinstated automatically.  We will make an application to our insurer and will contact you once a decision has been reached.  Please be aware that this may involve the completion of a medical questionnaire and could also entail further information being sought from your GP or a medical examination taking place.

As a member of the Scheme, there are two ways of making pension contributions towards the scheme:

Firstly you can make contributions directly from your salary based on a percentage of your Pensionable Salary.  You will contribute to the 60ths accrual rate (access to the other accrual rates was withdrawn in March 2006).  Click here to see the current contribution rates

The second option is to participate in Pension Exchange, which is an initiative introduced by the Press, aimed at giving  Scheme members the opportunity to make a potential National Insurance saving, by exchanging a proportion of your annual salary equal to your normal annual pension contributions.  OUP will then pay an additional employer contribution equal to your normal pension contribution, directly into the Group Pension Scheme on your behalf.

More information about how Pension Exchange works can be found on the Pension Exchange intranet site using this link.