This seems too low as a cost estimate. Perhaps because they have buying power that a private individual couldn’t match, or a structural surplus due to workforce

This seems too low as a cost estimate. Perhaps because they have buying power that a private individual couldn’t match, or a structural surplus due to workforce demographics, or maybe it’s just rosy accounting. Seems the current scheme lets you buy/stack, each year, a recurring annual pension worth 2.35% of your current salary (pays out every year after retirement). So with a salary of 57k, you would pay something like 4k this year to secure £1340 (inflation linked) every year of retirement. That’s insanely good value if you don’t have so many years left. I suppose if you have 20 years left, and you get an extra 10k private sector salary, and invest that for retirement, then it maybe breaks even with 7% compounding growth, but even then you have to contend with inflation and market risk. I think the fair value is more like an extra 20-30k salary.