If you claim your pension before your Normal Pension Age (NPA), it will be reduced. ERRBO is where you or your employer can pay extra contributions so you can take your 2015 Scheme benefits at an unreduced level before you reach your NPA.
NPA for the 2015 Scheme is your State Pension Age or age 65 if that is later.
You cannot buy an ERRBO that would:
- reduce your NPA by more than 3 years
- give you a retirement age of less than age 65.
If you’ve already taken out an Additional Pension (AP) contract, your ERRBO may be restricted. The increase to your pension through AP and ERRBO cannot be more than the permitted level. This will be checked on receipt of your application.
The cost of an ERRBO depends on:
- your age in complete years at the day before the date of the agreement
- the number of years reduction the agreement is for.
An expression of interest for ERRBO must be made within 3 months of:
- joining the 2015 Scheme for it to be effective from your first Scheme year
- the beginning of any Scheme year for it to be effective from that year.
Any application made after 3 months will only be effective from the beginning of the following Scheme year.
Previous scheme years are not protected by ERRBO and will be subject to a reduction for early payment if the pension is claimed before your NPA.
You must start paying the contributions within 2 months of the application being accepted unless this is delayed to the next scheme year.
Once an agreement is in place it will automatically carry on for each Scheme year until it ends.
If you have a break in pensionable service of 5 years or less, an ERRBO will automatically start again on the same basis that was previously agreed.
If there’s a break in pensionable service of more than 5 years, the ERRBO is cancelled. The pension built up during the payment period of the ERRBO keeps the reduced retirement age.
If you die before retirement, your ERRBO will not have any value as any adult dependant’s benefits are paid unreduced.
Applying for ERRBO
Complete an expression of interest form (ERRBO1) and send this to us.
We’ll issue you with a quotation (ERRBO2) within 20 working days.
If you want to go ahead with the agreement, complete an application for agreement form (ERRBO3). Forward this with a copy of the quotation to your NHS employer.
If you have more than one NHS employer, send these to all employers who you’re currently paying pension contributions with.
ERRBO payments
The cost is reviewed by the Scheme Actuary and could change.
If the cost increases, you and your employer will be sent a letter showing the new costs. You’ll be given the option to end your ERRBO. The pension built up during the payment period will keep the reduced retirement age.
Cancel, suspend, or increase payments
If you want to cancel your ERRBO and have paid contributions for less than one year, the additional contributions will be refunded.
You cannot start a new ERRBO once cancelled.
To cancel, suspend or increase your contributions, complete the Request to Suspend, Terminate or Vary an ERRBO Agreement.
Options for overpaid ERRBO contributions
Members of the 2015 Scheme who paid contributions between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 have been sent a letter explaining the options for what to do with these contributions.
These members have this choice because their 2015 Scheme membership for the period between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 has been moved back to the 1995/2008 Scheme as part of the Public Service Pensions Remedy (PSPR). This is known as the remedy period.
Members will be given a choice of 1995/2008 Section or 2015 Scheme benefits for the remedy period when they retire. This means what they choose to do with their affected ERRBO contributions now will affect the options they have when they claim their pension benefits.
The options to choose from are:
- wait until retirement to take these contributions which means you’ll still have the option to choose 2015 Scheme benefits for the remedy period and use your contributions to retire earlier without any reductions to your pension - if you decide the 1995/2008 Scheme is better for you, you can have your ERRBO contributions paid back to you with interest or convert them to additional pension
- apply to have these contributions paid back to you now which means if you choose the 2015 Scheme for the remedy period when you retire, you’ll no longer have ERRBO contributions for this period
If you're affected by this, your letter will explain your options in detail including a summary of how much your ERRBO contributions add up to.
The total amount of ERRBO contributions outlined in the letter has tax relief applied at the marginal rate applicable to the year they were paid.
You can return your option form to us by post or by emailing mcclouderrbo@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. You have 3 months from the date on the letter to do this.
If you’ve requested an estimate of the Additional Pension you could purchase in the 1995/2008 Section, you’ll receive a response by post. This should arrive from 5 August 2024.
If you have a query, email mccloudqueries@nhsbsa.nhs.uk.