The Royal Mail pension scheme is really three: the Royal Mail Pension Plan, the government's RMSPS for pre-April 2012 service, and a 2024 collective plan.
Anyone in the Plan both before and after April 2012 holds benefits in more than one of them, and each has its own paperwork and helpline. The form on this page takes under two minutes. An FCA-authorised adviser then gets in touch to set your Royal Mail pots against the State Pension and your other savings, with nothing to pay.
What is the Royal Mail pension scheme?
There is no single "Royal Mail pension scheme". Your benefits are split by date. The Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme (RMSPS) "looks after and pays the benefits built up by members of the RMPP before 1 April 2012". The Royal Mail Pension Plan (RMPP) is "responsible for paying your benefits which continued to build up on and from this date". The government set the RMSPS up in 2012 to take on the majority of the Plan's assets and liabilities, and the Plan's member guide says the way the two are calculated is designed so that the overall amount is no less than if the transfer had not happened.
Since 7 October 2024 there is a third arrangement for people still working at Royal Mail: the Royal Mail Collective Pension Plan.
| Scheme | What it holds | Run by |
|---|---|---|
| RMSPS | Service before 1 April 2012 | Administered by Capita |
| Royal Mail Pension Plan | Service from 1 April 2012, with defined benefit build-up to 31 March 2018 and Cash Balance from then until October 2024 | Royal Mail's Pensions Service Centre |
| Royal Mail Collective Pension Plan | Pension built up from 7 October 2024 | Its own independent trustee |
Royal Mail Pension Plan: Sections A, B and C
Where you sit in the Royal Mail Pension Plan depends on when you joined. Members who joined before 1 April 1987 were in Section B, and a very small number who joined before 1 December 1971 were in Section A. Anyone who joined on or after 1 April 1987 was in Section C. Your annual benefit illustration names your section on its front page.
The Plan paid a defined benefit pension linked to pay: a "Final Salary" calculation up to 2008 and a "Career Salary" method since. That pension stopped growing on 31 March 2018, when Royal Mail and the Trustee agreed to close the defined benefit to future build-up. From 1 April 2018 members built up Cash Balance benefits instead, a cash sum aimed at age 65. Pension built up in the Plan from April 2012 to March 2018 stays there (earlier service sits with the RMSPS, below), and is paid, in the Plan's words, at a normal retirement age that is 60 for benefits built up before 2010 and 65 for benefits built up after then, or earlier at a reduction. Our guide to final salary pensions covers how this kind of pension works, and taking a Royal Mail pension early covers the reductions.
The Plan itself then closed. With effect from 6 October 2024 it was "closed to member and Company contributions and future Cash Balance benefit build-up", and employee members on that date became members of the Collective Plan. What members had already built up stayed in the Plan. Earlier, the original Plan closed to new joiners on 31 March 2008, with newer staff going into the Royal Mail Defined Contribution Plan, and it reopened for some of them from 1 April 2018.
Where the RMSPS fits in for service before April 2012
If you belonged to the Plan before April 2012, part of your pension is paid by the RMSPS, not by Royal Mail. Capita administers it, and you receive a separate statement from Capita for that part. Any Royal Mail added years bought up to 31 March 2012 appear on that statement too.
This is why a Royal Mail member's Age60 benefits can look small on the Plan's own illustration. The Plan explains that most Age60 benefits were built up before 1 April 2012 and are now looked after by Capita in the RMSPS. Add the figures from both statements before you judge what you have. Our page on Royal Mail pension increases explains how each part rises, and the Royal Mail lump sum explains how the tax-free cash is drawn from both.
What is the Royal Mail collective pension plan?
The Royal Mail Collective Pension Plan is a collective defined contribution (CDC) scheme. It appears on the Pensions Regulator's list of authorised CDC schemes, and the Pensions Commission's 2026 interim report described it as the one single-employer CDC scheme then in operation.
From 7 October 2024, "most employees who have been working for Royal Mail continuously for a full year will join the Collective Plan". The Collective Plan's website (page last updated 10 October 2024) says members pay in 6% of pensionable pay and Royal Mail pays in 13.3%, plus a further 0.3% towards ill health premiums. The money is pooled and invested together, and the plan is designed to give an income for life from age 67 and a cash sum. Members build up 1/80th of pensionable pay each year, and the aim is to increase it to help keep up with the cost of living: "However, this is not guaranteed." The plan's own example warns the income could end up more or less than first built up. The lump sum builds up separately at 3/80ths of pensionable pay and is guaranteed not to go down.
Payments into other Royal Mail schemes stop when you join, but "They will not be transferred into the Collective Plan"; what you built up earlier stays where it is. Which of these you hold, and how much sits in each, differs from person to person. An adviser who sees your statements side by side can explain how they fit together; ask for a free ring-back using the form here.
Royal Mail pension scheme questions
Who runs the Royal Mail pension scheme?
It depends on which part. Capita administers the RMSPS, the Pensions Service Centre administers the Royal Mail Pension Plan, and the Collective Plan has its own trustee, independent of Royal Mail. Additional Voluntary Contributions to the Pension Plan are managed by Scottish Widows.
Can my family claim anything from my Royal Mail pension?
The Plan's Spring 2026 newsletter says that if you are married, in a civil partnership or have a financial dependant, a pension may be payable to them, and that children under 18 may also receive one, normally until 18, or 23 in full-time education or training. A one-off cash sum may also be payable; the Trustee decides who gets it, guided by your nomination form. Benefits in the Collective Plan need a separate nomination form. The wider rules are in our guide to final salary death benefits.
Can I still build up a Royal Mail final salary pension?
No. What you earned to 31 March 2018 stays a defined benefit, but nothing new builds up on that basis. Why employers closed them is covered in do final salary pensions still exist and big employers' final salary schemes.
How do I find my Royal Mail pension if I left years ago?
Start with the Pensions Service Centre for the Plan and Capita for the RMSPS. A pension you left behind is a deferred pension, and it can also be worth looking at how it interacts with the State Pension.
Is a Royal Mail pension safe if the company fails?
The RMSPS was set up by the Government in 2012 to take on most of the Plan's earlier assets and liabilities. For the Plan itself, its member guide describes the Pension Protection Fund as assisting eligible defined benefit schemes whose employer has become insolvent; how final salary pensions are protected explains the general rules. An adviser can talk your own case through on a free call-back booked through the form.