Membership benefits
Your benefits are worked out when you leave the Scheme, based on how long you have been a member and your pay when you leave.
They are then held in the Scheme where they will be reviewed each year and revalued in line with the cost of living, until they start to be paid. These benefits are often known as deferred benefits. You'll find out more about how your deferred benefits are worked out each year on this page.
Each year we will provide you with a statement showing the current value of your deferred benefits. How your deferred benefits are worked out depends on the period(s) you built up your pension over.
Any pension built up in the scheme from 1 April 2014 will be on a Career Average Revalued Earnings (or CARE) basis. Visit 'How a CARE scheme works' to find out more.
What happens if I re-join the Scheme or another public service pension scheme (e.g. NHS, Teachers, Civil Service) elsewhere, at a later date?
If you re-join the LGPS you will begin to build up membership towards a new set of benefits, in addition to your existing deferred benefits. Your two sets of benefits will usually be joined up by default, but in most cases you will have the option of keeping these two sets of benefits separate if you wish. If so, you have 12 months from the date you re-join to choose to keep them separate.
If you are re-joining another public service pension scheme you will usually have the option of transferring your LGPS benefits to that scheme. If you had final pay LGPS membership and joined another public service pension scheme within five years, you will have an ongoing final pay link if you combine your benefits together. you re-join the LGPS you will begin to build up membership towards a new set of benefits, in addition to your existing deferred benefits.
What happens if I join another occupational pension scheme?
It is possible to transfer your LGPS pension to another pension arrangement if certain conditions are met and your new scheme is willing to accept this. Your new scheme will 'convert' the value of your deferred benefit to purchase an additional value in the new scheme. You may be required to take independent financial advice before being allowed to transfer your benefits to your new scheme.
For service from 1st April 2014
For each employment you will have a Pension Account. This will hold the pension you are building up in the Scheme.
Your pension each year that will be added to your Pension Account will be worked out using your pensionable pay each year as of 31 March.
Each year you will build up a pension of 1/49th of your pensionable pay for that year. Each following year the pension in your Pension Account will be adjusted by the Consumer Price Index. See 'How a CARE scheme works' for further details
For service from 1st April 2008 to 31st March 2014
If you joined the Scheme for the first time on or after 1 April 2008 (but before 1 April 2014), your benefits for that period are worked out as:
Pension = final pay x membership ÷ 60
You can take part of your pension as a tax-free lump sum but you will have to give up some of your pension for this.
For service before 1st April 2008
If you have membership before 1 April 2008, the benefits you earned before 1 April 2008 are worked out as:
Pension = final pay x membership ÷ 80
Automatic lump sum = pension x 3
You can choose to give up some of your pension for a bigger lump sum.
If you have membership both before and after 1 April 2008 the two amounts of pension and tax-free lump sum will then be added together to give you your total final pay benefits. These will be combined with any CARE scheme membership you have from 1 April 2014 onwards.
What if I work part time or term time?
If you work part time or term time your pay used to work out your benefits for membership before 1 April 2014 will be your full time equivalent rate.
Your membership will be proportionate based on the actual hours you worked.
For membership after 1 April 2014 your pension account will be based on the actual pay from which your pension contributions were deducted.
Example of how my deferred benefits are worked out if I work full time
Bob built up 20 years membership in the final pay scheme before 1 April 2014 and built up another 7 years membership in the Scheme before he left the scheme. In this example, we assume he leaves the LGPS on 31st March 2021 and his deferred benefit is calculated as at that date.
For service from 1st April 2014:
| Year | Pensionable pay | Pension earned | Brought forward | Revalued value |
| 2014/15 | £20,000 | £408.16 | £0 | £413.06 |
| 2015/16 | £20,400 | £416.32 | £413.06 | £828.56 |
| 2016/17 | £20,808 | £424.65 | £828.56 | £1,265.74 |
| 2017/18 | £21,224 | £433.14 | £1,265.74 | £1,749.85 |
| 2018/19 | £21,648 | £441.80 | £1,749.85 | £2,244.25 |
| 2019/20 | £22,081 | £450.63 | £2,244.25 | £2,740.69 |
| 2020/21 | £22,523 | £459.65 | £2,740.69 | £3,200.34 |
Note
The above is based on actual revaluation for the financial years between 2014/15 and 2019/20. It is assumed that his pay will increase each year by 2% throughout.
For membership before 1 April 2008:
Pension = final pay x membership / 80
Pension = £22,523 x 14 ÷ 80 = £3,941.53 a year
Lump sum = £3,941.53 x 3 = £11,824.58
For membership between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2014:
Pension = final pay x membership / 60
Pension = £22,523 x 6 ÷ 60 = £2,252.30 a year
So Bob's total benefit at 31 March 2021 will be:
Pension = £9,394.17 a year (£3,200.34 + £3,941.53 + £2,252.30)
Lump sum = £11,824.58
Bob can also choose to give up some of his pension for an even bigger lump sum.
What if I work part time or term time?
If you work part time or term time your pay used to work out your benefits for membership before 1 April 2014 will be your full time equivalent rate. Your membership will be proportionate based on the actual hours you worked. For membership on or after 1 April 2014 your pension account will be based on the actual pay from which your pension contributions were deducted.
Example of how my benefits worked out if I work part time
Sue works part time. She worked for 20 years in the final pay LGPS before 1 April 2014 and was member of the CARE scheme for a further 7 years before she left the scheme. In this example, we assume she leaves the LGPS on 31st March 2021 and her deferred benefit is calculated as at that date.
Sue has always worked half the hours of a full-time colleague and so her membership used to work out her retirement benefits will be 7 years before 1 April 2008 and 3 years after 1 April 2008.
For membership from 1 April 2014:
| Year | Pensionable pay | Pension earned | Brought forward | Revalued value |
| 2014/15 | £10,000 | £204.08 | £0 | £206.53 |
| 2015/16 | £10,200 | £208.16 | £206.53 | £414.28 |
| 2016/17 | £10,404 | £212.33 | £414.28 | £632.88 |
| 2017/18 | £10,612 | £216.57 | £632.87 | £874.93 |
| 2018/19 | £10,824 | £220.90 | £874.93 | £1,122.12 |
| 2019/20 | £11,040 | £225.31 | £1,122.12 | £1,370.34 |
| 2020/21 | £11,261 | £229.82 | £1,370.34 | £1,600.15 |
Note
The above is based on actual revaluation for financial years from 2014/15 to 2019/20. It is assumed that his pay will increase each year by 2% throughout.
For the membership before 1 April 2008:
Pension = final pay (full time equivalent) x membership (proportionate to part time hours) / 80
Pension = £22,523 (full time equivalent) x 7 ÷ 80 = £1,970.76 a year
Lump sum = yearly pension x 3
Lump sum = £1,970.76 x 3 = £5,912.29
For membership between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2014:
Pension = final pay (full time equivalent) x membership (proportionate to part time hours) / 60
Pension = £22,523 x 3 ÷ 60 = £1,126.15 a year
So Sue's total benefit will be:
Pension = £4,697.07 a year (£1,600.15 + £1,970.76 + £1,126.15)
Automatic lump sum = £5,912.29
Sue can also choose to give up some of her pension for an even bigger lump sum.