How a public service (civil servant) pension is calculated
National Treasury - Pensions Department · sources read 4 Oct 2026
Under the old (non-contributory) scheme, your yearly pension is 1/480 of your yearly pensionable pay for every complete month you served; you can swap up to a quarter of it for a lump sum worth 20 times the yearly cut. If you are in PSSS, your benefit is what is in your account: your 7.5% plus the Government's 15% plus returns, with up to a third paid as a lump sum.
- Where
- Old scheme: Pensions Department, National Treasury, Bima House, Harambee Avenue, Nairobi (pensions@treasury.go.ke). PSSS: through your employer and the Public Service Superannuation Fund.
Steps
- Old scheme: multiply your complete months of pensionable service by your yearly pensionable pay and divide by 480. That is your yearly pension; divide by 12 for the monthly amount. Example: 360 months x KSh 600,000 / 480 = KSh 450,000 a year.
- If you want a lump sum, you can take a reduced pension of at least three-quarters of the full one, plus a gratuity of 20 times the yearly amount you gave up.
- PSSS: add up the employer contributions, your contributions, any voluntary extra contributions and investment income. Up to one-third can be paid as a lump sum at retirement; the rest is paid as a regular income.
- To work out PSSS contributions: you pay 7.5% of your basic monthly pensionable pay and the Government adds 15%.
Watch out
- You must choose the lump-sum option no later than the day before you retire.
- With less than 10 years' service you get a one-off gratuity of up to five times the yearly pension instead of a monthly pension.
- If you moved from the old scheme into PSSS, the benefits you earned before are paid separately by the Treasury Pensions Department when you leave, not from your PSSS account.
Who this covers
- Old scheme: public officers with at least 10 years' service; the qualifying age for pension is 50.
- The old scheme still applies to officers who were 45 or older on 1 January 2021 and did not opt into PSSS.
- PSSS: officers under 45 on 1 January 2021 were enrolled automatically, and everyone who joined after that date is a member.
Official sources (4)
- Pensions treasury.go.ke · read 4 Oct 2026
- Pensions Act, Cap. 189 (with Pensions Regulations) treasury.go.ke · read 4 Oct 2026
- Public Service Superannuation Fund Members Handbook 2026 psss.go.ke · read 4 Oct 2026
- FAQs psss.go.ke · read 4 Oct 2026