Prison Officer Pension (alpha)
alpha Member Contribution Rates 2026/27
| Pensionable earnings | Member contribution |
|---|---|
| Up to £36,199 | 4.60% |
| £36,200 to £56,000 | 5.45% |
| £56,001 to £150,000 | 7.35% |
| Above £150,000 | 8.05% |
Prison staff are civil servants, so the pension is the Civil Service alpha scheme rather than a prison-specific one. alpha is a career average scheme: each year you build a slice of pension worth 2.32% of that year's pensionable earnings, and the pot is revalued each year.
Your contribution rate is banded by pensionable earnings, from 4.60% to 8.05%. The rates are unchanged for 2026/27; the two lower thresholds rise with inflation each April, which is why the bottom band moved from £34,800 to £36,199. Your employer pays 28.97% of pensionable pay on top — that never appears on your payslip but is a large part of the package.
Which pay counts matters. The unsocial hours allowance, ACHP and the Required Hours Addition are pensionable. Plain ACH, Payment Plus and on-call payments are not. That is why two officers on similar gross pay can sit in different contribution tiers.
partnership is the alternative: a defined contribution scheme where your own contribution is voluntary — 0% is valid — and the employer pays an age-related contribution plus matching up to 3%. The calculator models both.