Annual pension increases

5th June 2025

The questions and answers and pension increase example below have been provided to help answer any questions you may have regarding how your pension might increase each year.

Cost of living support

For guidance and helpful links regarding the cost of living, please click the link below.

Cost of living

Questions & answers

Your policy document sets this out. It is common for increases to be linked to an inflation measure such as the increase in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) or the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), subject to a maximum percentage increase.

For any part of your pension where this type of increase applies, if the inflation measure used to calculate the increase is greater than the maximum percentage figure, then the increase applied to that part of your pension will be restricted to the maximum. Please see the example below.

No - your pension increases are calculated each year in line with what was agreed when your benefits were secured with Rothesay as set out in your policy document.

Your policy document sets out if, how and when your pension increases.

When your benefits were secured with Rothesay, we agreed to pay you and, if applicable, your dependants the benefits set out in your policy document.

Policyholders can view their pension details using our online service. We are in the process of rolling this out to all of our policyholders. Most of our policyholders will already have received a letter providing them with the details they need to access their policy online. If you do not yet have online access or would prefer not to use our online service, please contact us for any information you need.

If you have further questions on how your pension might increase, please contact us.

For additional help and support on the cost of living crisis, please take a look at our Cost of living support page.

Pension increase example

This example assumes that CPI and RPI are greater than 5% over the year.

The table below illustrates the increases that would be applied on the different parts of your pension (sometimes referred to as ‘components’ in your policy document).

Benefit component	Annual increase rate per policy	Increase applied	Current amount	Amount after increase
Pre 88 GMP	Nil	0%	£100	£100
Post 88 GMP	The percentage change in CPI, subject to a minimum increase of 0% and a maximum increase of 3% per annum	3%	£100	£103
Pension in excess of GMP before 5 April 1997	Fixed 3% per annum	3%	£200	£206
Pension in excess of GMP between 6 April 1997 and 5 April 2006	The percentage change in RPI, subject to a maximum increase of 5% per annum	5%	£200	£210
Total pension			£600	£619

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Pension increases