Discretions
Your employer and pension fund can decide how they will apply the Scheme when certain events happen. These are called discretions.
Your employer and pension fund must decide how to exercise discretions. They must have a written policy on how they will apply certain discretions. Your employer must have written policies on whether it will:
- allow flexible retirement
- award additional pension
- pay towards the cost of additional pension
- waive any reductions if your pension is paid early. This does not apply if you retire due to ill health, redundancy or business efficiency. If you retire for one of these reasons, your employer must meet the cost of paying your pension early.
Your employer and pension fund must act with ‘prudence and propriety’ in making their policies. They must keep those policies under review. You can ask your employer or your pension fund what their policy is in relation to a discretion.