GMP is the minimum pension amount you’ll get from your pension scheme if you worked between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997.
You would have paid less National Insurance contributions as you did not pay into the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS), later known as the State Second Pension (S2P) or the Additional State pension. This is known as being ‘contracted out’.
The NHS Pension Scheme is responsible for the GMP period by making sure that your NHS Pension would be at least as much as what you would have gotten from the additional part of the State Pension.
If you were a member of the NHS Pension Scheme between 6 April 1997 to 5 April 2016 you would have been contracted out. This membership would not be affected by GMP.
Contracted out employment stopped on 6 April 2016 with the introduction of the new State Pension.
Who is entitled to GMP
You may be eligible for a GMP amount as part of your pension if you:
- were a member of a contracted out pension scheme between 1978 and 1997
- paid full National Insurance contributions.
If you were self-employed, you’re not entitled to GMP.
How is GMP paid
GMP is paid if your pension is less than the GMP total. It’s not a separate benefit to be paid in addition to your pension.
The NHS Pension Scheme increases the GMP figures in line with the annual rate of increase of National Average Earnings.
Read more about GMP on our website.
GMP test
Check if you need to request a GMP test.
Once a GMP test has been requested, you’ll receive a response within 6 to 8 weeks. If we need to request figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), these are usually returned within a week.
If the GMP test fails, we cannot allow you to either:
- receive early payment of pension benefits
- exchange the amount of pension requested to provide an additional lump sum.
You may be able to exchange a smaller part of your pension.
The GMP test would need to be recalculated if you chose not to retire on the proposed leaving date.