Additional State Pension (SERPS and State Second Pension)
If you are an employee who is not a member of an occupational pension scheme, you will build up an additional State Pension on top of the basic State Pension. Up to April 2002, the additional State Pension was called the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS). SERPS was based on your record of National Insurance contributions and your level of earnings as an employee.
On 6 April 2002, the Government reformed SERPS, creating the State Second Pension to provide a more generous additional State Pension for low and moderate earners, and certain carers and people with a long-term illness or disability. (Any SERPS entitlement that has already been built up will be protected, both for those who have already retired and for those who have not yet reached State Pension age.)
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