Increases to pensions in payment

The following is a summary of how pensions are increased by the MNOPF once your pension is in payment.

Whether you receive an increase, and how much that increase will be, will depend on a number of factors, namely your service period within the MNOPF and your age.

Increases to pensions in payment fall into two types – those required by legislation on specific elements of pension (see below), and those which can be granted at the discretion of the Trustee. The MNOPF Rules require the Trustee to consider every year whether any discretionary increases can be paid. However, this is dependent upon there being sufficient surplus in the MNOPF to meet this cost.

No discretionary increases will be payable for 2024

The increases that are required by legislation (and are therefore guaranteed to be paid every year) are detailed below. For some members, the calculation of these guaranteed pension increases changes once a certain age is reached: this is 65 for men and 60 for women.

The only element of your pension that is guaranteed to increase is the pension based on your service on or after 1 April 1997. This part of your pension will increase in line with increases in the Retail Prices Index (RPI), up to a maximum of 5% per annum for the period of 12 months ending on 30 September preceding the date of the increase.

The rate of increase for April 2023 is 5.0%.

The pension arising from your service in the MNOPF before 1 April 1997 does not receive guaranteed increases.

However, please refer to the table below for increases payable in respect of pension rights built up in a previous pension arrangement that have been transferred into the MNOPF after 28 April 1997, and for pensions payable to an ex-spouse following a Pension Sharing Order.

The pension based on your service on or after 1 April 1997 will increase in line with increases in the Retail Prices Index (RPI), up to a maximum of 5% per annum for the period of 12 months ending on 30 September preceding the date of the increase.

The rate of increase for April 2023 is 5.0%

If you have been contracted out of the earnings-related part of the State Pension arrangements for any part of your MNOPF service between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997, your pension increases will be calculated differently once you reach age 65 (men) or 60 (women).

If you have been contracted out for any part of your MNOPF service, the MNOPF is required to provide a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP), which is broadly equivalent to the amount of pension that would have been payable by the State in respect of the same period. The GMP is not paid in addition, but forms part of your overall MNOPF benefit, and comes into effect from age 65 for a man and age 60 for a woman. If your pension includes any GMP, this will be shown on your retirement statement.

(Note: Not all employers who participate in the MNOPF are contracted out of the State Pension arrangements. If you do not have any contracted-out service you will not have any GMP element within your MNOPF pension, and the way in which your pension increases are calculated will continue unchanged after age 65/60).

The table below shows the pensions increases that apply to MNOPF for the year starting April 2024:

Member benefit	Increase applied for 2024
Service between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1988	GMP earned prior to 6 April 1988 will be increased each year if you are resident in the UK. This element will be increased by the rise in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for the 12 month period ending the preceding 30 September, but the increase amount is added to your State Pension and not your pension payable from the MNOPF. Any other amounts of MNOPF pension in respect of this period do not receive guaranteed increases.
Service between 6 April 1988 and 5 April 1997	GMP earned after 6 April 1988 is increased by the MNOPF each year. This element of your pension will be increased by the rise in Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for the 12 month period ending the preceding 30 September, up to a maximum increase of 3% a year. The rate of increase for April 2024 is 3.0%. Any other amounts of MNOPF pension in respect of this period do not have guaranteed increases.
Service on or after 1 April 1997	Pension in respect of service on or after 1 April 1997 will be increased in line with the increase in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) for the 12 month period ending the preceding 30 September, up to a maximum of 5% a year. The rate of increase for April 2024 is 5.0%.
AVC Pension	If you have paid Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) and used your AVC fund on retirement to buy an additional amount of pension in the MNOPF, this element of pension does not increase.
Transfers in	If you have transferred benefits into the MNOPF after 28 April 1997 from a previous pension arrangement, the pension purchased in the MNOPF with the transfer value will increase in line with the increase in the RPI for the 12 month period ending the previous 30 September, up to a maximum of 5% a year. The rate of increase for April 2024 is 5.0%.
Ex-spouse benefit	Increase applied for 2024
Pension purchased in the MNOPF for an ex-spouse, where a member has been subject to a Pension Sharing Order	The pension payable to the ex-spouse will increase in line with the increase in RPI for the period of 12 months ending the preceding 30 September, up to a maximum of 5% a year. The rate of increase for April 2024 is 5.0%.

Pensions paid to spouses and dependants will increase in the same way as member’s pensions described above, except for pensions to ex-spouses, which are described here.

Any pension increases will apply from your April pension payment.

If you have paid Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) and used your AVC fund on retirement to buy an additional amount of pension in the MNOPF, this part of your pension will not receive increases.