How is my pension affected?

If you have not yet started receiving your pension

We will adjust your pension at the point you start taking it, so you won’t receive a letter about your GMP yet.

Your starting pension could be higher or lower than any pension estimates you’ve received. Your pension increases could also be higher or lower than any estimates on increases that you’ve received.

If you are already receiving your pension

If we find your GMP has been underpaid

The amount of pension you receive in future could go up a little. It’s also possible we could owe you a back payment. Most adjustments are likely to be small.

If we find your GMP has been overpaid

The Trustee and the Company have agreed that nobody’s pension will go down as a result of our work on GMPs, but the way your pension will increase in the future may change. If this applies to you, you will receive a letter from us.

We also won’t ask you to pay back any money you have already received.

If you are the beneficiary of a GSK/SB Plans member who has died

If you are entitled to a pension because you are the husband, wife or civil partner of a member who has died, the GMP part of your pension – and their pension, while they were receiving it – could have been underpaid or overpaid.

If you are entitled to pension benefits because you are the child or other dependant of a GSK/SB Plans member who has died, the GMP part of their pension, while they were receiving it, could have been underpaid or overpaid.

If we find the GMP has been underpaid

If you’re currently receiving a pension, the amount of pension you receive in future could go up a little. It’s also possible we could owe you a back payment in respect of your underpaid pension, and potentially the member’s underpaid pension too.

If we find the GMP has been overpaid

If you’re currently receiving a pension, we won’t reduce it as a result of our work on GMPs, even if we find the member’s pension was overpaid.

We also won’t ask you to pay back any money you have already received.

Pension increases

Because of the rules about increasing GMP, the GMP work we’re doing could also affect the pension increases you receive. These could go up or down – and again, you could be owed a back payment.

Pension adjustments and tax

It’s possible that getting an increase to your pension, or a back payment, as a result of the GMP work, could affect your tax position.

Income tax

Pension income is taxed in the same way as any other income. You are liable for income tax on all income you receive in a tax year (6 April to 5 April) above your income tax personal allowance. The standard income tax personal allowance is currently £12,570 a year.

If your GMP adjustment means your pension income is higher in the future, you could pay more income tax each year.

If you receive a back payment that increases your income in one tax year, you could pay more income tax in that year. It’s also possible that receiving a back payment could push you into a higher tax bracket – depending on your other income for that year. You may be able to reclaim any additional tax you paid on the back payment from HMRC if it relates to previous tax years.

Find out more in our income tax leaflet.

Pension tax

The lifetime allowance limited the amount of pension benefits you could build up in your lifetime before you became liable to pay an additional tax charge. It covered all your workplace and personal pensions, except the State Pension. The lifetime allowance tax charge was removed from 6 April 2023, and the lifetime allowance was removed completely from 6 April 2024.

Before 6 April 2023, when you took your retirement benefits, they were measured against the lifetime allowance to check how much of it you had used up. This measurement may have been calculated in stages, depending on how you took your benefits. You may have triggered a lifetime allowance tax charge if the amount of your benefits was over your lifetime allowance.

Although the lifetime allowance and the lifetime allowance tax charge no longer apply, because the work we have been doing on Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) relates to historic pension payments, you may still incur a tax charge if the adjustment we’ve made to your pension causes you to breach the lifetime allowance that was applicable to you at the time you retired. If the GMP adjustment to your pension means you get a higher pension, a back payment, or both, this could still affect your position against the lifetime allowance and consequential tax charges. Find out more in our lifetime allowance tax leaflet or by reading our online news article about changes to the lifetime allowance.

The information above sets out the Trustee and GSK’s current approach to, and understanding of, GMPs and GMP Equalisation. The Trustee and GSK each reserve all rights to change their approach in future. The information above does not confer any right to benefits.