Contributions

Members of the Network Pension Scheme and the member organisations that employ them both contribute to the cost of the scheme. Contributions are collected by employers and paid to the Pension Service of the Velocity Interoperability Network monthly. The member's contribution is set by tier according to pay; the employer's contribution is a single rate on the pensionable pay of every member.

Contributions do not determine the pension a member receives. The scheme is a defined benefit scheme, and the pension earned in a year is one sixtieth of pensionable pay in that year whichever tier the member is in. The tiers exist so that the cost of the scheme is shared in proportion to pay.

14,280

Contributing members at establishment on 6 September 2026

46

Participating member organisations paying contributions to the Service

19.5%

Employer contribution on the pensionable pay of every member

6.9%

Average member contribution rate across the five tiers

Member contribution tiers. A member's tier is determined from their full-time equivalent pensionable pay on 6 September each year, or on joining. The rate of that tier is applied to the pensionable pay the member actually receives, so a member working half of full-time hours pays the rate of the tier for their full-time pay on half of it. The tiers below apply for the scheme year from 6 September 2026 to 5 September 2027.

The pay boundaries of the tiers are reviewed each year and any change is announced in the Newsroom before the scheme year begins. The distribution of contributing members across the tiers at establishment is shown below.

Employer contribution. Every participating member organisation contributes 19.5 per cent of the pensionable pay of each member it employs. The rate is set by the Scheme Board on the advice of the scheme actuary and is fixed until the first valuation of the scheme, which will be carried out as at 5 September 2027. An employer that pays late is charged interest at the rate set by the Treasury Department for late payments to the Network, and persistent late payment is reported to the Scheme Board.

How contributions are collected. The steps below apply to every participating member organisation.

1. 1

   Step 1: The employer sets each member's tier

   On 6 September each year, and when a member joins, the employer determines the member's tier from their full-time equivalent pensionable pay and tells the member the rate that will apply. A change of pay during the year does not change the tier until the following 6 September.

2. 2

   Step 2: Contributions are deducted from pay

   The member's contribution is deducted from pensionable pay each time pay is made. The employer's contribution of 19.5 per cent is calculated on the same pay. Both appear on the member's payslip.

3. 3

   Step 3: The employer pays the Service

   The employer pays the member and employer contributions for a month to the Service by the nineteenth day of the following month, with a return listing each member, their pensionable pay and the contributions deducted.

4. 4

   Step 4: The Service reconciles the return

   The Service checks each return against the member register and the contributions received. Queries are raised with the employer within ten working days and must be resolved before the next return.

5. 5

   Step 5: The member's record is updated

   Validated pay and contributions are added to the member's record and appear in the annual benefit statement, which is issued within six months of the end of the scheme year.

Additional pension. A contributing member may buy additional pension in units of 250 credits a year, up to a total of 7,500 credits a year, by a single payment or by monthly deductions over a period of up to ten years ending before the normal pension age. Additional pension is revalued and paid in the same way as the pension earned by service. The cost depends on the member's age when the purchase begins; representative costs are set out below, and a quotation for a particular member may be requested from the Service.

Questions about contributions, including a member's tier or a missing deduction, should be raised with the employer in the first instance and may then be sent to contact@pensions.gov.vin. For the rules on pensionable pay, see Part 2 of the Scheme Rules; for how contributions become pension, see Benefits; for membership figures, see Statistics.