I pay
You pay a percentage of your Pensionable pay into the Pension Scheme, which is deducted automatically from your monthly or weekly salary. You get tax relief on whatever you pay into the Scheme. If you pay your Scheme contributions via BA's salary sacrifice arrangement - SmartPension - you also get National Insurance contributions relief).
For all service after 1 October 2010, the standard rate at which your pension builds up is 1/75 (for both Flying Staff and Ground Staff). All this means is that, when we work out your pension for service from 1 October 2010, we multiply your Pensionable service by your Retiring pay and then divide by 75. Members can choose to pay for a faster build up rate - see Put more into my BA pension.
Contribution rates for each Plan are shown in the table below.
| All Staff – Plan 65 | |||
| Build up rates | Default rate 1/75 |
Faster build up option 1/67 |
Fastest build up option 1/60 |
| Contribution rate from 1 October 2010 | 3.75% | 6.00% | 8.25% |
| Contribution rate from 1 October 2011 | 5.25% | 7.50% | 9.75% |
| All Staff – Plan 60 | |||
| Build up rates | Default rate 1/75 |
Faster build up option 1/67 |
Fastest build up option 1/60 |
| Contribution rate from 1 October 2010 | 7.00% | 9.25% | 11.50% |
| Contribution rate from 1 October 2011 | 8.50% | 10.75% | 13.00% |
| All Staff – Plan 60 plus Option 55 | |||
| Build up rates | Default rate 1/75 |
Faster build up option 1/67 |
Fastest build up option 1/60 |
| Contribution rate from 1 October 2010 | 16.00% | 18.25% | 20.50% |
| Contribution rate from 1 October 2011 | 17.50% | 19.75% | 22.00% |
Special contribution arrangements for lower paid members
Special contribution arrangements apply for members whose earnings are below an Upper pay threshold, set at £24,532 a year on 1 October 2011.
Members whose pay is below a Lower pay threshold (£21,806 on 1 October 2011) pay contributions which are 3% lower than the standard rates from 1 October 2011, meaning that contributions would remain at a constant level.
Members whose pay is between the Lower pay threshold of £21,806 and Upper pay threshold of £24,532 will pay contributions up to 3% lower than the standard rates from 1 October 2011. The amount by which contributions are reduced is calculated according to where the member's pay falls between the lower and upper pay thresholds.
Flexibility in what you pay
Within NAPS there are two Pensionable pays you can choose from:
- NAPS1 Pensionable pay = the pensionable elements of your basic pay reduced by 1.5 times the Current single person's Basic State Pension
- NAPS2 Pensionable pay = the pensionable elements of your basic pay reduced by 15%
For most NAPS1 and NAPS 2 flying staff pensionable pay was increased by 18.75% as part of the NAPS Scheme changes introduced from 1 April 2007.
Adult Survivor's pension
The standard pension package includes a pension for your spouse or partner or qualifying Pensionable Dependant when you die. If you do not want this cover, you can choose to pay 1.5% less.
Build your Final Salary pension at a faster rate.
If you are in Final Salary, you can choose to build up your pension at a faster rate by paying more than the standard rate.
Put more on top of your BA pension.
You can top up your retirement income by making additional payments called Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs).
BAMPS
You can decide what you pay between:
- 2% of your Pensionable pay (usually the elements of pay that British Airways deem to be pensionable less 1.5 times the current single person's Basic State Pension) and 50% of your gross pay.
- You can change the rate from the first of a month if you give BA Pensions one full calendar month's written notice.