Last checked against official sources: 13 October 2026. Labels used in this guide: Confirmed = stated in an official notification, circular, FAQ or PIB release (linked); Reported = reported in media or reproduced orders that we could not open on an official site; Example = our own illustration using the official formula.
The Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) is the assured-payout option that the Central Government added inside the National Pension System (NPS) from 1 April 2025. It is not a separate fund outside NPS, and it is not the Old Pension Scheme. It keeps your NPS account (PRAN) and contributions, then promises a defined monthly payout at retirement if you meet the service conditions. This guide covers eligibility, the payout formula with worked numbers, family payout, the switch back to NPS, and the full (now closed) deadline history.
UPS at a glance
| Feature | Rule | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Effective date | 1 April 2025 | Confirmed (DFS notification F. No. FX-1/3/2024-PR, 24.01.2025) |
| Full assured payout | 50% of the average basic pay of the last 12 months before superannuation, after 25 years’ qualifying service | Confirmed (DFS notification) |
| Shorter service | Proportionate payout for 10 to 25 years | Confirmed |
| Minimum guaranteed payout | ₹10,000 per month on superannuation after 10+ years | Confirmed |
| Family payout | 60% of the payout drawn immediately before death, to the legally wedded spouse | Confirmed |
| Dearness Relief | Payable on assured and family payout, worked out like DA for serving staff | Confirmed |
| Lump sum at retirement | 1/10th of last monthly emoluments (basic + DA) for every completed six months of qualifying service | Confirmed |
| Contributions | Employee 10%, Government 10% (individual corpus) + estimated 8.5% (pool corpus) of basic + DA | Confirmed |
| Option for existing staff | Closed on 30 November 2025 | Confirmed (PIB, 25.11.2025) |
| Option for new recruits | Within 30 days of joining | Confirmed (PFRDA UPS page) |
Who is eligible for UPS
According to PFRDA, UPS is available to three groups [Confirmed]:
- Existing Central Government employees who were covered by NPS on 1 April 2025. Their option window has now closed (see the deadline history below).
- New recruits joining Central Government service on or after 1 April 2025. They choose at joining, using Form A1, within 30 days of joining.
- Past retirees under NPS who superannuated or retired on or before 31 March 2025 after at least 10 years of qualifying service, or who retired under FR 56(j) (not as a penalty), and the legally wedded spouse of such a retiree who has died. Their window has also closed.
Assured payout is available only in three exit routes [Confirmed, DFS notification para 2(i)]: superannuation after 10 years of qualifying service; retirement by the Government under FR 56(j) that is not a penalty; and voluntary retirement after 25 years of qualifying service, in which case the payout starts from the date you would have superannuated. The CCS (Implementation of UPS under NPS) Rules, 2025, notified by DoPPW on 2 September 2025, also allow UPS subscribers to take voluntary retirement after 20 years of service with a pro-rata payout [Confirmed, PIB, 16.09.2025].
There is no assured payout on dismissal, removal or resignation. On resignation, the individual corpus is paid out under PFRDA regulations; on dismissal or removal, assured payouts are forfeited and the individual corpus is paid as a lump sum [Confirmed, PFRDA/DFS subscriber FAQs].
How the UPS payout is calculated
The official FAQs give the formula [Confirmed, DFS FAQs on UPS for Subscribers, updated 13.09.2025]:
Assured Payout = (P ÷ 2) × (Q ÷ 300)
- P = average basic pay of the last 12 months before retirement (includes NPA for medical officers).
- Q = qualifying service in completed months. Below 120 months, UPS benefits do not apply. Above 300 months, Q is capped at 300.
Two adjustments can then reduce it to the Admissible Payout:
Admissible Payout = Assured Payout × (IC ÷ BC) × (1 − FW%)
- IC = your individual corpus; BC = the benchmark corpus PFRDA computes assuming every contribution arrived on time and was invested in the default pattern. The IC/BC ratio is capped at 1. If your IC is higher than BC, the excess is paid to you at retirement.
- FW = the final withdrawal you choose at retirement, up to 60% of IC or BC, whichever is lower. Taking a final withdrawal reduces the monthly payout in the same proportion.
Worked examples
These use the same assumption as the Government’s own illustrations in the gazette notification: a 12-month average basic pay of ₹45,000. All payouts are before Dearness Relief.
| Case | Calculation | Monthly payout | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25+ years, IC = BC, no withdrawal | (45,000 ÷ 2) × 300/300 | ₹22,500 | Confirmed (gazette Scenario 1) |
| 20 years (240 months) | 22,500 × 240/300 | ₹18,000 | Example |
| 15 years (180 months) | 22,500 × 180/300 | ₹13,500 | Confirmed (gazette Scenario 2) |
| 10 years (120 months) | 22,500 × 120/300 = ₹9,000, raised to the floor | ₹10,000 | Confirmed (gazette Scenario 3) |
| 25+ years, IC only 90% of BC (missing credits not made good) | 22,500 × 0.9 | ₹20,250 | Confirmed (gazette Scenario 4) |
| 25+ years, 60% final withdrawal taken | 22,500 × (1 − 0.60) | ₹9,000 | Example using the FAQ formula |
The last row is the one most people miss. Under NPS, taking 60% of the corpus as a lump sum was routine. Under UPS, every rupee you withdraw cuts the assured payout in proportion, and the official FAQ says the ₹10,000 minimum is “subject to timely and regular credit of contributions and no withdrawals”.
The separate lump sum
On top of the monthly payout, UPS pays a lump sum that does not reduce the payout: one-tenth of your last monthly emoluments (basic + DA) for every completed six months of qualifying service [Confirmed]. The gazette illustrates it with basic pay of ₹45,000 and DA of 53% (₹23,850): 1/10 of ₹68,850 is ₹6,885, so 25 years (50 half-years) gives ₹3,44,250 and 30 years gives ₹4,13,100. The DA rate in that example is the Government’s assumption for illustration, not a current rate.
Family payout and minimum assured pension
- Family payout: if a UPS pensioner dies, the legally wedded spouse receives 60% of the admissible payout the pensioner was drawing immediately before death, for life, plus Dearness Relief [Confirmed]. The spouse must be the one recorded in service records on the date of superannuation or retirement; a spouse married after retirement is not eligible [Confirmed, FAQ 51].
- Death or disablement in service: the family (or the employee, in case of invalidation or disability) can choose benefits under UPS or under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 / CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023 [Confirmed, FAQ 61]. Railway staff have a parallel provision under Railway Board RBE No. 76/2025.
- Minimum assured payout: ₹10,000 a month for superannuation after 10 or more years of qualifying service, plus Dearness Relief [Confirmed], subject to the contribution and withdrawal conditions above.
- Gratuity: retirement and death gratuity apply to UPS subscribers under the CCS (Payment of Gratuity under NPS) Rules, 2021 (DoPPW OM dated 18.06.2025) [Confirmed].
- Tax: CBDT’s OM dated 02.07.2025 applies Sections 80CCD(1), 80CCD(1B), 80CCD(2), 80CCD(3), 80CCD(4), 10(12A) and 10(12B) to UPS, within their limits [Confirmed, PFRDA].
Switch rules: moving from UPS back to NPS
Choosing UPS is no longer a one-way door. DFS Office Memorandum No. 1/3/2024-PR dated 25 August 2025 created a one-time, one-way switch from UPS to NPS [Confirmed, PIB]:
- You can switch only once and can never return to UPS.
- Deadline: at least 12 months before superannuation, or 3 months before the deemed date of voluntary retirement. It can also be used at resignation or on FR 56(j) retirement that is not a penalty.
- Not allowed after removal, dismissal or compulsory retirement as a penalty, or while disciplinary proceedings are pending or contemplated.
- If you switch, you lose the assured payout. The Government then credits the 4% difference in its contribution (14% under NPS versus 10% under UPS) for the period you were in UPS, valued at the default investment pattern, and contributes 14% from then on.
- If you do nothing, you stay in UPS by default.
The opposite move, NPS to UPS, is no longer open to staff who were in service on 1 April 2025, because their window closed on 30 November 2025. For a side-by-side comparison of what you keep and give up, read our UPS vs NPS detailed comparison.
Deadline history (all dates below have passed)
We have merged our earlier deadline posts into this table so the record stays in one place. None of these windows is open now.
| Date | What happened | Source / status |
|---|---|---|
| 24.01.2025 | UPS notified by DFS as an option under NPS, effective 01.04.2025 | Confirmed (DFS) |
| 19.03.2025 | PFRDA (Operationalisation of UPS under NPS) Regulations, 2025 notified; original window was three months from 01.04.2025 (to 30.06.2025) | Confirmed (PFRDA regulations; DFS) |
| 26.06.2025 | PFRDA circular PFRDA/2025/04/SUP-CG-SG/01 extended the window to 30.09.2025 (Railways: RBE No. 64/2025) | Confirmed (RBE 64/2025) |
| 25.08.2025 | One-time, one-way UPS-to-NPS switch introduced | Confirmed (DFS OM) |
| 02.09.2025 | CCS (Implementation of UPS under NPS) Rules, 2025 notified by DoPPW | Confirmed (PIB) |
| 16.09.2025 | PFRDA circular PFRDA/2025/10/SUP-CG-SG/03: physical UPS forms could be submitted to nodal offices up to 30.09.2025 if the CRA system failed | Confirmed (PFRDA circulars list) |
| 16.09.2025 | One-time option to move to UPS for staff who joined between 01.04.2025 and 31.08.2025 and had chosen NPS, by 30.09.2025 | Confirmed (PIB) |
| 19.09.2025 | PFRDA circular PFRDA/2025/11/SUP-CG-SG/04: new joinees could hand in Form A1 physically to nodal offices or the head of their training institute by 30.09.2025 | Confirmed (PFRDA) |
| 06.10.2025 | PFRDA circular PFRDA/2025/14/SUP-CG-SG/06 extended the cut-off by two months to 30.11.2025 for existing employees, past retirees and spouses of deceased past retirees | Confirmed (PFRDA) |
| 13.10.2025 | Railway Board RBE No. 107/2025 applied the 30.11.2025 extension to Railways | Confirmed (Eastern Railway circular index) |
| 30.11.2025 | Final date for existing employees and past retirees to opt for UPS | Confirmed (PIB) |
| 18.06.2026 | Railway Board RBE No. 48/2026: no NPS-to-UPS migration for staff who retired on or after 01.04.2025 and already availed NPS benefits | Reported (board letter reproduced by staff portals; title listed by Railway Board) |
| 16.09.2026 | Railway Services (Implementation of UPS under NPS) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 827(E), circulated by RBE No. 75/2026 | Reported (gazette text reproduced by staff portals; we could not open the Gazette copy) |
As of the Finance Ministry’s reply in the Lok Sabha in August 2026, 1,18,195 eligible beneficiaries had opted for UPS as of 19 July 2026 and there was no proposal to change or replace the scheme [Reported, Mint, 4 Aug 2026].
Frequently asked questions
Can an existing employee still opt for UPS?
No. The window for employees in service on 1 April 2025 closed on 30 November 2025, and anyone who did not opt continues under NPS [Confirmed]. We found no official notice reopening it up to 13 October 2026.
I joined after 1 April 2025. Can I choose UPS?
Yes. New recruits choose at joining and must submit Form A1 within 30 days of joining [Confirmed, PFRDA]. Ask your DDO for the form or download it from the CRA (Protean) UPS page.
Can I leave UPS later?
Yes, once, to NPS, up to 12 months before superannuation (3 months before a voluntary retirement date). After that you cannot return.
Will I get 8th Pay Commission benefits under UPS?
The payout is linked to your basic pay at retirement, so a pay revision before you retire raises P in the formula. Para 11 of the DFS notification says UPS optees cannot claim later “policy concession, policy change, financial benefit, any parity with subsequent retirees” [Confirmed]. How the 8th CPC will treat UPS payouts already in payment has not been announced.
Official sources: DFS UPS page (notification, FAQs, switch OM) · PFRDA UPS page · CRA UPS forms. Use the NPS Trust UPS calculator for your own figures.