§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the current employer and employee rates of contribution to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Civil Service pension schemes, and the scheme's total non-administration expenditure and income in each of the last three years. [HL1263]
§ The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos)Employer contributions for both the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Civil Service pension schemes are charged on a sliding scale. The rates are presently under review and are expected to increase. The current rates for Great Britain range between 12 per cent and 20.5 per cent while in Northern Ireland they range between 12 per cent and 18 per cent.
Employee contribution rates are 1.5 per cent or 3.5 per cent dependent on the pension arrangement chosen by the individual scheme member with the exception of employees who opt to join the partnership pension arrangements who can contribute up to the Inland Revenue limit, 15 per cent of salary.
Where an employee opts for a partnership pension account, which is a stakeholder pension, the employer makes a contribution as a percentage of pensionable earnings from 3 per cent to 12.5 per cent according to age. The employer also matches the contributions made by the employee up to a maximum of 3 per cent of salary. The employer makes a separate contribution, of 0.8 per cent, for centrally funded risk benefits.