In the final part of our campaign for this year’s Pension Awareness season – here’s a reminder of the ways you can give your pension the attention it deserves.
Annual pension statements
You’ve been able to view your latest annual pension statement via EAPF Online since the end of August. Whether or not you’ve had the chance to have a look, you might have some questions about your statement.
We’ve put together a short video which helps you navigate through your pension statement, and there’s also a guide to help explain what it all means. What better way to get to know your pension than to start with your statement! If you’ve not registered to EAPF Online yet, it’s really easy. You’ll just need your NI number to hand and a valid email account to register with.
Please note: If you’ve joined the Scheme in late March (and didn’t receive your first salary payment until the April), or you joined after March, you won’t get your first annual pension statement until the August of the following year.
Watch our 'ABS Explained' video or you can also download our 'Your pension statement explained' guide.
Login or Register to EAPF Online to view your statement.
What else can I do to learn more?
EAPF Contributing member webinars
A great way to learn more and help you understand your pension is by joining our EAPF contributing member webinars. We run these each year through October and November and you can now book your place for this year’s sessions shown below.
These are tailored specifically to the EAPF and cover various pension topics. Our webinars always receive brilliant feedback, and we use your feedback to ensure we’re always improving them.
Book your ticket for our upcoming EAPF webinars today!
| Dates |
10am - 11am |
2pm - 3pm |
| 11 October |
New starters |
Pension basics |
| 12 October |
Pension basics |
Increasing your benefits |
| 19 October |
Planning for retirement |
Pension basics |
| 20 October |
Increasing your benefits |
Planning for retirement |
| 02 November |
How the EAPF invests |
How the EAPF invests |
| 03 November |
Pension basics |
New starters |
| 08 November |
Increasing your benefits |
Increasing your benefits |
| 10 November |
Planning for retirement |
Planning for retirement |
Pension Awareness Day live shows
The national ‘Pensions Awareness Day’ organisers are also running some live shows throughout the week commencing 31 October, which you can register for now too. They’ll cover lots of interesting topics such as State Pensions explained, pensions and tax and how women can better their retirement.
Sign up for their live shows at pensionawarenessday.com/live-shows
Pension schemes in the news
You might have seen some recent press regarding current volatility in financial markets that have affected some pension schemes. We want to reassure you that the security of your pension in the EAPF is guaranteed, with no link to market fluctuations. As we’re a defined benefit scheme, the amount of pension you receive is not based on the performance of financial markets or share prices.
Being a fund of the LGPS, benefits are protected by a government promise in the unlikely event that the Fund has insufficient funds to pay pensions.
The EAPF’s funding level has been recently estimated at around 103% so we’re in a very healthy position. But also, as we’re a long-term investor, short-term changes do not affect our investment approach. We’ll continue to monitor the movements in the market closely.
And even better news is, the annual revaluation of your CARE pension may benefit from the current high cost of living (measured by the Consumer Price Index - CPI) next April.
Read Part 1 of our EAPF Pension Awareness Week campaign here
Read Part 2 of our EAPF Pension Awareness Week campaign here