Teachers’ Pension CARE - Deferred vs Active Growth

Plan your Teachers’ Pension

Stop guessing. Use our tools to project your income, calculate tax-free cash, and understand your options.

NEW Total Pension Projector
Combine Final Salary & CARE pots. Model McCloud, Phased Retirement & Salary Growth.
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Early Retirement
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What this comparison shows

  • Deferred: your existing CARE pension is projected using the CPI / Pensions Increase assumption, with no further pension earned.
  • Active: the existing CARE pension is projected using CPI plus the 1.6% active-member addition, and a new 1/57th slice is added from pensionable earnings each year.
2026 reference point: the public-service Pensions Increase applied from April 2026 is 3.8%. The calculator uses 3.8% as its starting planning assumption, but future inflation will vary, so you can change it below.

Your current CARE position

£

If you stay active

£
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Use 100% for full-time, 80% for 0.8 FTE, etc.
%
Advanced revaluation assumptions
%
Default 3.8% reflects the April 2026 Pensions Increase, not a forecast of future CPI.
%
TPS active CARE currently adds 1.6% to the Treasury Order revaluation.

Model the decision in more detail

This tool isolates the CARE effect of staying active. Use the wider pension simulator if you also hold Final Salary benefits, or the CARE Impact tool to model changing hours and career breaks.

Open Full Pension Simulator Model CARE Impact

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Deferred vs active CARE FAQs

Your accrued CARE benefits are preserved and revalued under the deferred-member rules, normally in line with the annual Pensions Increase. You stop earning new 1/57th CARE slices while out of pensionable service.

While you remain an active member, accrued CARE is revalued using the Treasury Order rate plus an additional 1.6%, and you continue to earn new pension at the standard 1/57th accrual rate.

If you return to pensionable service after a break of no more than five years, TPS can revise the CARE benefits from before the break so that the break period is treated using active revaluation. After a break of more than five years, earlier deferred CARE generally continues under deferred revaluation while new CARE earned after returning receives active revaluation.