Changing circumstances

If you leave the Company or decide to stop paying in to the Scheme for any other reason, the Company's contributions in to your pension will also stop. 

You will become a 'deferred' member and your benefits will be kept in the Scheme until you are eligible to claim them.

For more information about deferred pension benefits, please visit the deferred members section of the website.

If you leave the Company and start work with another of the original Electricity Companies, who offer their employees membership of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme (ESPS), then you may be able to join their Group if your new employer allows. 

You may be able to transfer your benefits built up in the Uniper Scheme to the new company, to provide equivalent benefits. For more information, please contact the pension scheme administrator for your new employer. Your new employer should be able to advise who this is.

If you are a Protected Person, please take a look at the additional information in your Member Guide. 

If you take a leave of absence without pay, or less than full pay, after the first 30 days you can choose whether you keep paying the same employee contributions to the Scheme that you would have if you were receiving full pay. 

Maternity leave

If your leave of absence is due to maternity leave, the time that you receive reduced pay will be treated as reckonable service. Reckonable service is the years and days that count towards your pension, also known as pensionable service.

If you have a period of no pay, you can choose to still pay the contributions you would have usually paid during that period, so that it counts towards your pension.

Alternatively, you can choose not to pay any contributions. This period will be classed as non-reckonable service and will not count towards your pension.

You can find more information in your Member Guide. Please also check the information on family leave and maternity pay below.

If your pay is reduced, you may have the choice to pay contributions based on your previous, higher pay. 

Your pay may go down because:

• the Company has changed your position of employment (disciplinary reasons are not included)
• your working patterns have changed, for example from shift work to day work

If you choose to make contributions based on your higher pay, the higher pay is used when we calculate your final pensionable salary. You will pay contributions based on the previous higher pay, even though your new pay is less than your old pay.

You must choose whether you want to pay contributions based on your previous higher rate of pay within three months of your pay change.

You can find more details about reduction in pay in your Member Guide.

If your working hours change, for example if you go from full-time to part-time working, then your pension is calculated using the full-time equivalent of your final pensionable salary. 

Your pensionable service, built up while you are working part-time, is reduced in proportion to your new working hours.

How much you pay into your pension may also change.

If you are on family leave, for example following the arrival of a child, then you may get one of these types of pay:

• Maternity pay
• Paternity pay
• Family pay
• Adoption leave pay

If you are getting one of these types of pay, then your contributions into your pension will be based on that and not on your normal wages. Your employer will continue to pay into your pension based on your normal, pre-family leave pay. The benefits that you build up will be based on your normal rate of pay.

When you return to work, you will restart paying your normal contributions. Please speak to your employer for more details.

If you think you might return to work on a part-time basis, please see the section above on changing your hours which explains how this will affect your pension. You can also find more information in your Member Guide.

If you are planning on taking a career break from work, you will need to speak to your employer to check what arrangements they have in place, and what the impact will be on your pension contributions and benefits. 

When the break starts all payments into your pension will stop, unless your employer makes alternative arrangements. You will also stop building up service in the Scheme until you return.

Once you return to work your contributions and membership will restart automatically.

If you do not return to work, you will be treated as having left the Scheme when the career break started.

You should speak to your employer for more information, including details about what death benefits may be payable if you die during your career break.

If you need to take long-term sick leave, please speak to your employer about how this will affect your pension, and whether your contributions will be paused.

Stopping work completely due to ill-health

If you need to stop work completely due to ill-health, you can apply for ill-health benefits, as long as you have not already taken your benefits while in employment.

Keep in mind, that you will not be given an incapacity pension automatically - you will need to write to your pension administrator, Broadstone, with a request for early payment of your pension benefits on the grounds of ill-health. You can find Broadstone's contact information on the contact details page. 

You will then need to meet certain criteria under the Scheme rules to be considered for ill-health benefits. For example, a Medical Adviser will need to confirm you are unable to work. 

If you meet the criteria, you may be able to claim your Scheme pension and cash lump sum early, with no reductions.

If it is agreed, an ill-health pension can be paid at any age. The Trustee will monitor the payment with regular reports on your current health, and any paid employment that you may start after we pay your ill-health pension to you. The Trustee may then reduce or suspend the pension depending on the reports they receive.

If you left the company due to ill-health but were not granted ill-health benefits at the time, you may be able to start taking your deferred benefits at any time, even if you have not reached your normal pension age.

You can find out more about taking your pension early due to ill-health in your Member Guide.

If you are going through a divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership, you will need to tell the Scheme's administrator, Broadstone. This will help to avoid delays in payment of any benefits due to you and/or your dependants. 

As part of your divorce or dissolution, your pension is likely to be considered along with your other assets when financial settlements are worked out.

How your pension could be shared out

There are three ways a Court could decide to share your pension:

1. Pension Offsetting

   With Pension Offsetting, you keep your pension assets to yourself in their entirety while something else of the same or similar value, such as property, is awarded to your ex-spouse or former civil partner. If your situation changes in the future and you re-marry or die, your offsetting agreement will not be affected.
   
   Pension Offsetting might be a particularly good option if you or your ex-spouse or former civil partner have similar pension provision in place or overseas pensions that you need to be split. This is because international pension assets cannot be shared via a UK court order.
   



2. Pension Attachment Order (Earmarking Order)

   The Scheme must accept an Earmarking order if it is made against one of its members.
   
   With this option, when you start getting your pension, a certain amount that is agreed by both parties and approved by the Court, will go to your ex-spouse or former civil partner. The amount could also include a portion of your lump sum death benefit and/or your retirement lump sum. The payments will be made directly to your ex-spouse or former civil partner when you decide to take your benefits. The State Pension is not included in it though.
   
   If you die before you start receiving your pension, your ex-spouse or former civil partner will not get the share awarded to them. They may however, still receive some of the lump sum which could be paid out when you die.
   
   If your ex-spouse or former civil partner remarries, enters a new civil partnership or dies before you, they will no longer be eligible to receive any of your pension payments awarded to them and it will be re-instated to you. However, they may still be entitled to a retirement lump sum.
   



3. Pension Sharing Order (PSO)

   Pension Sharing provides a clean break between both parties at the time of divorce or ending of a civil partnership. This is because assets are split immediately and it is up to both parties to decide what to do with their shares independently.
   
   With this option, a one-off payment that is agreed by both parties and approved by the Court, is made from your pension to your ex-spouse or former civil partner at the time of divorce or ending of a civil partnership. Their share is taken off the total amount of your pension - this is known as a 'pension debit'. Your ex-spouse or former civil partner receives their share, known as the 'pension credit' as soon as the order is finalised.
   
   Once the payment has been made, your ex-spouse or former civil partner will have no further claim to your pension.
   
   The amount they receive from you will need to be transferred to another pension arrangement.
   
   In this arrangement, if your ex-spouse or former civil partner dies before you do, the pension debit will not be re-instated to you.

How will any Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) be split? 

If you die before taking your benefits or soon after, your next of kin may be entitled to death benefits. You can find out more on the your benefits page and in your Member Guide.