Help me find my scheme

Pace was set up in April 2006, when three defined benefit (DB) pension schemes merged: CIS Employees’ Pension Scheme, The Co-operative Bank Pension Scheme and Co-operative Group (CWS) Limited Pension Scheme. If you contributed to a pension scheme before April 2006 you may have a pension in Pace DB.

You probably joined Pace DB (formerly Pace Complete).

If you started working for the Co-op between October 2012 and October 2015, you had the option to join either Pace DB (formerly Pace Complete) or Pace Extra/Pace Essential (now known as Pace DC).

Pace DB is a defined benefit scheme which opened in 2006 and closed in 2015. It no longer has any contributing members – only pensioners and people who’ve left but kept their pension in Pace until they’re ready to take it. Pace Essential/Extra were defined contribution schemes and are now known as Pace DC.

If you started working for the Co-op after 28 October 2015 you had the option to join Pace DC. This is the pension scheme you'll be a member of if you were automatically enrolled.

If you were working for another Co-operative or another company that merged with the Co-op, you might have a pension in one of the Other Schemes. These schemes closed in October 2012 and you can find out more about them in the Other Schemes section. If you were paying contributions into one of these schemes at the time they closed, it’s possible you might also have a pension in Pace DB or Pace DC, built up after October 2012.

If you were a pensioner or deferred member of one of the Other Schemes, your benefits will remain in that scheme unless you belonged to the Brixham, Leeds, Sheffield or Lothian schemes which merged into Pace DB in April 2015, or the Plymouth or Yorkshire schemes which merged into Pace DB in March 2021. If you were a member of one of these schemes your pension will now be paid by Pace DB, but based on the Rules of the scheme you were a member of when they merged into Pace DB.

The DC sections of the Somerfield, Britannia and Plymouth schemes were transferred into Pace DC in December 2012 and January 2013.