We apply up to two different types of revaluation.
The first type of revaluation is a Treasury order, which is applied to the Career Average (CARE) element of your benefits on 6 April. We’ll only apply a Treasury order if you stopped contributing to the EAPF during the scheme year, with an entitlement to a deferred benefit.
The second type of revaluation is a Pensions Increase (PI) order, which is applied on the first Monday following 5 April to work out the revaluation due on both your Final Salary and CARE benefits in the scheme.
Where we apply both the last Treasury and the first PI orders, these are known as ‘partial orders’, as we only apply the part of the order that is relevant to the period of contributing service and time remaining in the scheme year to 31 March.
Partial orders only apply in the year in which a contributing member leaves the scheme; after that, we’ll apply full PI orders.
Both Treasury orders and PI orders are currently aligned to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is a Government indicator of price inflation.
These orders provide revaluation that’s based on the increase in the CPI over a 12-month period to the September before the April in which revaluation is applied.
This means the increase in the CPI between October 2024 and September 2025 will decide the revaluation we apply in April 2026. However, unlike Treasury orders, PI orders can’t be negative.
The increase in the CPI between October 2024 and September 2025 was recorded as a 3.8% increase; this means that, in April 2026, both the full Treasury order for contributing members and the full PI order for deferred members is 3.8%.
From April 2011, the Government changed the rate of revaluation used by HM Treasury for PI orders from the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to CPI.
As mentioned in the section ‘What is revaluation’ CPI is a Government indicator of price inflation. We’ll use the annual change in CPI to each September to determine if your deferred pension should be increased in the following April.
For example, if there is an increase in the CPI in the 12 months to September, we’ll add the same increase to your deferred pension in the following April, so the value of your deferred pension isn’t eroded by the effects of inflation.
If the change in CPI is negative, we won’t apply a decrease because PI orders can’t be negative, and this means your deferred pension will remain unchanged and payable at the same rate.
Please note that LGPS funds like EAPF have no powers or discretion to vary the increase that can be applied.
The rate at which deferred pensions have been revalued by PI orders since 2016 is as follows:
Year
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Increase (%)
0
1.0
3.0
2.4
1.7
0.5
3.1
10.1
6.7
3.8
PI orders are effective from the first Monday after 5 April each year, so it will always fall between 6 April and 12 April.
The first increase to your pension account after you become entitled to a deferred benefit will normally only be a proportion of the year’s increase.
How much of the full PI order you receive will depend on how many months you’ve been a deferred member. The number of months used in the calculation is rounded up or down to the nearest number of full months.
However, if your deferred benefit includes a final salary element that was calculated using a pensionable pay figure that was earlier than your final year (i.e. highest of the last 3 years, or best 3 year average from the last 13 years if you hold a valid BR10 letter ) a full year’s increase will be applied to that element.
Subsequent increases will always be the full PI percentage amount; we’ll be sure to tell you the rate of revaluation applied to your deferred benefits each year on your annual pension statement.
You became entitled to deferred benefits on 1 January; in the following April, the full percentage amount showing in the PI order is 3.8%.
As you became entitled to a deferred pension part-way through the tax year, we’ll apply a proportion of the increase.
The increase will be 0.95% (3/12 x 3.8%), to reflect that your pension has only been deferred for 3 months of the previous year.
The Career Average element will also have had a partial Treasury Orders increase.
In following years, the full PI for the year will be paid.
Although deferred, deferred pensioner, pension credit and pensioner accounts are revalued by PI whilst in deferment, increases from PI orders only come into payment when you take your retirement pension and:
You’re aged 55 years or over, or
You’re under age 55 and have been granted early payment of your deferred pension on ill health grounds, and you were certified as being permanently unable to undertake any regular full-time employment
However, if you’re under age 55 and the above conditions don’t apply to you, the cumulative PI revaluation will only be applied (and become payable from) when you reach your 55th birthday.
