New joining employees and those who are already enrolled in the NPS pension scheme can join UPS pension scheme. But to get the benefit of the Unified Pension Scheme, the employee has to complete a minimum of 10 years of service, and to get the full benefit, the employees have to complete a minimum of 25 years of service.

• An employee retiring after putting in 25 years of service is entitled to a pension of 50% of 1 year's average basic pay.
• For an employee retiring after putting in a minimum of 10 years of service, UPS pays a minimum pension of Rs. 10,000/- per month.
• After the death of the retired person, his dependent family is entitled to a family pension of 60% of the last pension drawn by the retired person.
• Other Benefits

National Pension System (NPS) and Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) are both pension based government schemes. In both the pension schemes, the employee has to contribute 10% of his basic salary. In NPS, the government contributes 14% and in the UPS scheme, 18.5% of the employee's basic salary. Pension in NPS is market based whereas in UPS scheme, there is a provision of 50% guaranteed monthly pension to the employee. For this reason, the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) is better than NPS.

The government has implemented the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) only for central government employees. This pension scheme is effective from 1 April 2005. On retirement under the UPS scheme, the employee will be given a guaranteed monthly pension of 50 percent of the average basic salary of 12 months. Employees who are in the NPS pension scheme can also join the New UPS Pension Scheme.

To get a UPS scheme pension, it is necessary for the employee to contribute to the pension fund. This contribution will be 10% of the employee's basic pay and the government will deposit 18.5% of the employee's basic pay. In the National Pension Scheme, the government contributes 14% and it is very important that in the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the entire cost of pension was borne by the government and no contribution was taken from the employees.

Employees Contribution: 10% of basic basic pay

Government Contribution: 18.5% of the employee’s basic basic pay

To calculate UPS pension, you must have worked for 25 years or more to get a full pension. If you have worked for 25 years, then the calculation will be based on 50% of the average salary of 12 months before retirement. By the way, in the UPS scheme, you will get a minimum pension of Rs 10,000 and if we talk about family pension, then it will be 60% of the basic pension. Along with this, dearness allowance is also added to the pension.

In the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the entire pension cost of the employees is borne by the government, as no contribution is taken from the employees in this scheme. To reduce this financial burden, the government has started NPS from 1 January 2004 and UPS Pension Scheme from 1 April 2025. In NPS, the employees contribute 10% and 14% respectively. In the UPS Pension Scheme, the employees contribute 10% of their salary and the government contributes 18.5%.

In the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), 10% of the employee's basic salary and dearness allowance (DA) and 18.5% of the employee's basic salary and dearness allowance (DA) are contributed by the government, on the basis of which the employee is given a monthly pension of 50% of the average salary of 12 months before retirement.

The UPS Pension Scheme is applicable for central employees across the country. There are many demands from employees to implement the old pension scheme instead of the NPS scheme. Therefore, the government has implemented the UPS pension scheme for central employees. If the state government wants, it can also implement the UPS scheme in place of NPS for employees. Maharashtra has become the first state to switch to the UPS pension scheme for its employees.