Self-administered pension scheme (SAPS) mortality investigation

The investigation began in 2002 following completion of a pilot investigation into the mortality experience of SAPS pensioners, published in CMI Report 20. Initially the investigation was led by a Working Party, which subsequently became an official committee of the CMI in 2006.

Data

Data is submitted for schemes in a prescribed format, described in the Coding Guide, by firms that perform the Scheme Actuary role. The data covers current pensioners and dependants of schemes with more than 500 pensioners. Data for deferred and active members is not collected.

The majority of data submissions cover a period of three years, consistent with many schemes having triennial valuations.

Results

Firms receive results in respect of the individual schemes that they submit, providing figures for the exposure and actual deaths and comparing the experience against that according to specified base mortality tables. Results are presented separately for males and females, by lives and amounts, and for different pensioner types.

Aggregate results are also produced annually. Working Paper 190 presents the most recent published analysis covering the period 2015 to 2022, based on data submitted to August 2023. Additional analyses are also undertaken from time to time, such as analyses of mortality improvements and mortality experience by industry classification.

In October 2024, Working Paper 194 was published, presenting an investigation into the mortality experience by a range of different factors including pension amount, Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) decile, region, and industry, as well as by combinations of these factors.

Mortality tables

Since 2006, the Committee has produced four sets of mortality tables based on the data that it collects. The most recent set of tables is the “S4” Series, which were issued in February 2024 alongside Working Paper 185.

Previous mortality tables are listed below:

• "S3" Series (Working Paper 113), issued in December 2018
• “S2” Series (Working Paper 71), issued in February 2014
• “S1” Series (Working Paper 35), issued in October 2008