The lesson here is to ensure that if you have an RA you keep it. Employers cannot contribute. You will have to negotiate a pay rise and funnel that to your RA yourself. You can contribute to both PPP and RA as long as you are within the Earnings Cap. Of course you can slice this any way you like, varying from year to year if the contracts permit.
Cash is calculated as a function of annuity rates, and is three times the annuity.
You can start to take benefits from ages 60-75. Use the Pension Audit to see how your current planning stacks up, and the Javascript below to see how much you can contribute. For employees it can include the value of company cars and fringe benefits, overtime etc. It excludes income from investments. As a matter of public policy this is too high - reliefs for pensions should only apply in as far as to ensure that people do not require State support in retirement.