Just to note, the professional added years isn't guaranteed, my organisation recommended one added year and this was accepted, however when the paperwork went to the department, my pension was abated I was awarded 0 added years. It took about 4 months to reach a decision, and they would only accept it 3 months before confirmed retirement date. They went into a lot of details and questions over and back about previous pension schemes. There are a lot of variables such as the required qualifications and experience for the role as it was advertised etc... so 2 people in similar circumstances depending on the job description, might have a different outcome from the process.