This is the minimum contract period that you need to complete to ensure that your pension plan has value in future, even if you stop paying in to it for any reason. Really, you should consider the whole duration as the minimum – it’s not, but a pension plan is a commitment to Future You, so you should pick a monthly amount that you can reasonably expect to always be able to pay into your pension plan without any issues, and stick with the plan all the way through the whole duration – that is the route to successful retirement planning, at least in terms of the financial aspects.
The initial periods are different for different duration options, as follows:
10-year duration: 13.20 months
15-year duration: 24.48 months
20-year duration: 27.72 months
This can also be calculated as a financial amount rather than a monthly amount – just multiply the relevant number above by your chosen monthly amount to save into your pension plan.