I don't understand why there is an apparent linkage between the size of my AFPS pension and whether I was contracted out (someone said that contracting out allowed afps to pay me more). By that argument, the fact that everyone is paying full NIC from now on should mean that afps pays out less in the future. I have a private pension that can be as large or small as I like (within annual and lifetime limits etc) and that is not at all affected by whether I am contracted in or out. I consider my AFPS pension to be just a company pension that happens to be paid by the MOD. Does British Telecom pay more or less to its company pension scheme members depending on whether they are contracted in or out? Or have I missed the point altogether?