This will depend on a number of factors. The LGPS is a default pension scheme and is generally available to local authority employees who are unable to contribute to another pension scheme.

For example, if you are a public health doctor employed directly by the local authority, you may retain the right to continue to contribute to the NHS pension scheme via direction arrangements. If this is the case you will not be able to contribute to the LGPS instead.

If you are not eligible for membership of the NHS pension scheme you would be eligible to join the LGPS.

For pension scheme membership accrued up to 31 March 2008, you will receive the following benefits:

• annual pension based on pensionable service x final pensionable pay / 80 plus a pension commencement lump sum of three times this amount.

For pension scheme membership accrued after 1 April 2008 up to 31 March 2014, you will receive the following benefits:

• annual pension based on pensionable service x final pensionable pay / 60.

For pension scheme membership accrued after 1 April 2014, benefits are calculated on a career average revalued earnings basis with a 1/49th accrual.

If you are in scope for the McCloud remedy then the benefits accrued between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2022 will be subject to the underpin arrangement and will be paid at the highest rate.

Read more from LGPS.

Yes. You can take up to 25% of the capital value of your pension as a lump sum. You can increase the lump sum by giving up part of your annual pension and you will receive £12 of lump sum for each £1 of pension you give up.

Your membership is calculated with reference to the years and days that you contribute to the LGPS, but may also include:

• membership transferred from other pension schemes
• added years
• augmented service
• service credited as a result of ill health retirement.

During periods of working part-time, your membership is apportioned according to the number of part-time hours you are working. For example during a period of 10 years where you are working 50% of whole-time you will accrue five years of membership.

Your pensionable pay is your salary, wages, fees and other payments specified in your contract of employment as being pensionable.

Generally, payments made in respect of expenses, and pay in lieu of notice are not treated as pensionable.

Your final pensionable pay is the pay on which your benefits, accrued before 1 April 2014, are calculated.

If you are in scope for the McCloud remedy then you may be paid a pension linked to service up to 31 March 2022, or earlier dependent on your retirement date, and pensionable pay if more beneficial than the benefits you have accrued under the CARE scheme.

Legacy scheme accrual is based on your pensionable pay during the year ending with the day that you cease to be an active member of the scheme, or one of the best of the last three years.

If your pay has been reduced you can request that your employer looks at the best consecutive three year average during the last 13 years of your pensionable employment. In this calculation, the pensionable earnings which are considered are for the year up to 31 March.

Final pensionable pay is calculated with reference to your earnings from a single comparable whole-time employment.

Each period of membership is treated separately.

If you terminate one post while continuing to contribute to the scheme for another post(s), you can elect to combine the periods of membership.

The membership credited to the active account will be adjusted to reflect any differential in pensionable pay between the posts.

Yes. The pension scheme regulations allow each employer discretion in the way in which some of the scheme rules apply to its employees. Each scheme employer is obliged to formulate and publish a discretions policy.

This will be determined by the scheme actuary at the triennial valuation and can vary from employer to employer.

Generally, employers pay a higher level of contribution into the LGPS than that paid by NHS employers. The average employer contribution to the LGPS is around 19%.

If you continue to work and contribute to the LGPS beyond your normal pension age, you will be paid your pension when you retire, take flexible retirement or at the latest when you reach the eve of your 75th birthday.

Your pension will be increased by a late retirement factor.

You may be able to retire from age 55 onwards. The minimum pension age is due to increase to 57 on 6 April 2028.

If your benefits are paid early as a result of voluntary early retirement they will be reduced to reflect the fact that they will be in payment for longer.

If you are age 55 or over, with two years service or more, you will be entitled to the immediate payment of your unreduced LGPS benefits.

Any additional voluntary contribution plans paid toward and accessed before your normal pension age will still be subject to a reduction.

Yes - this is known as flexible retirement.

From age 55, if you reduce your hours or move to a less senior position, and your employer agrees, you can take some or all of your accrued benefits. You should discuss this with your employer.

If there is no prospect of you being capable of gainful employment before your normal pension age, you will receive an ill health retirement pension calculated with reference to the membership which you would have accrued had you remained in the LGPS until your normal pension age.

If there is no prospect of you being capable of gainful employment within three years, but you may be able to work again before your normal pension age you will receive an ill health retirement pension, calculated with reference to membership which you have accrued up to the date you leave the LGPS, plus 25% of your prospective service to normal pension age.

If there is prospect of you being capable of gainful employment within three years, or before you’re normal pension age, whichever is sooner, you will receive an ill health retirement pension calculated with reference to the membership which you have accrued up to your date of leaving.

Payment of these benefits will be stopped after three years or earlier if you are in gainful employment or become capable of such employment.

When the payment is stopped, it will normally become payable again from your normal pension age but there are provisions to allow it to be paid earlier.

Yes. This is three times your final pensionable pay.

If you are working part-time, this will be your actual pay and not the notional whole-time equivalent. Unless, you were working part-time wholly on account of the condition which caused or contributed to your death. In this event no account will be taken of the reduction in your pay resulting from the reduction in your service.

Your employer has complete discretion over the recipient of the death grant, although you are able to complete an ‘expression of wish’ form to indicate to whom you would like this to be paid.

A surviving spouse, registered civil partner or, subject to certain qualifying conditions, a co-habiting partner will qualify for a pension.

In the 2014 scheme the benefit for your married partner or registered civil partner is calculated using the following formula:

• Pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay for each year of pensionable service / 160

In relation to service accrued prior to 1 April 2014 the accrual is as follows:

• membership x final pensionable pay / 160 = dependent’s pension

The benefits for qualifying co-habiting partners is calculated using the same formula but only using membership accrued after 5 April 1988.

This pension is payable from the day after your death.

The membership used to calculate this pension will include the membership which you would have accrued had you remained in the LGPS until your normal pension age.

Yes. If you are under age 75 at the time of death a death grant will be payable.

In the 2014 scheme the death grant is ten times the annual pension less any pension paid from this section and the amount of any tax free cash sums taken via commutation at retirement.

In relation to service accrued prior to 1 April 2014 the grant is equivalent to ten times your pension less the value of any pension benefits which have been paid.

A surviving spouse, registered civil partner or, subject to certain qualifying conditions, a co-habiting partner will qualify for a pension.

In the 2014 scheme the benefit for your married partner or registered civil partner is calculated using the following formula:

Pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay for each year of pensionable service / 160

In relation to service accrued prior to 1 April 2014 the accrual is as follows:

membership x final pensionable pay / 160 = dependent’s pension

The benefits for co-habiting partners is calculated using the same formula only using benefits accrued after 5 April 1988.

This pension is payable from the day after your death.

If you marry after you have retired the dependant’s benefits may be calculated slightly differently.

Your child will receive a child’s pension if they are eligible.

Your child will qualify to be treated as an eligible child if he or she is wholly or mainly dependent on you, at the time of your death and is under 18 years of age.

If your child is between 18 and 23 and in full time education, at the time of your death, they will be treated as an eligible child.

If your child is disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 they will be treated as an eligible child.

In the 2014 scheme if a survivor benefit is paid to an eligible spouse, registered civil partner or co-habiting partner, then a single child will receive the following:

• Pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay for each year of pensionable service / 320

In relation to service accrued prior to 1 April 2014 the accrual is as follows:

• membership x final pensionable pay / 320 = child’s pension

In the 2014 scheme if no survivor benefit is paid to an eligible spouse, registered civil partner or co-habiting partner, then a two or more qualifying children will receive the following:

• Pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay for each year of pensionable service / 160

In relation to service accrued prior to 1 April 2014 the accrual is as follows:

• membership x final pensionable pay / 160 = child’s pension

In the 2014 scheme if no survivor benefit is paid to an eligible spouse, registered civil partner or co-habiting partner, then a single child will receive the following:

• Pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay for each year of pensionable service / 240

In relation to service accrued prior to 1 April 2014 the accrual is as follows:

• membership x final pensionable pay / 240 = child’s pension

In the 2014 scheme if no survivor benefit is paid to an eligible spouse, registered civil partner or co-habiting partner, then a two or more children will receive the following:

• Pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay for each year of pensionable service / 120

In relation to service accrued prior to 1 April 2014 the accrual is as follows:

• membership x final pensionable pay / 120 = child’s pension

You are able to purchase additional scheme pension, by lump sum or regular contribution, up to a maximum of £7,579 of additional pension.

The cost varies and is determined by the following factors:

• your age at your last birthday
• your sex
• the amount of additional pension being purchased
• the end date chosen for the contract
• whether the cost is being met by a single lump sum payment or by regular contributions
• whether you have chosen to purchase personal benefits only or to also provide benefits for dependants.

Find further information on additional pension from LGPS.

Please note an LGPS pension is subject to annual and lifetime allowance tax charges. Changes were made to the Lifetime Allowance in April 2023, and this is set to be abolished in April 2024. The maximum tax free cash sum remains £268,275 unless you hold a protected personal Lifetime Allowance permitting a higher tax free cash sum.

For deferred and pensioner members, benefits increase in line with the Pensions (Increase) Act. This act currently links increases to your benefits to changes in the consumer prices index.

If you retire before age 55, other than on the grounds of ill health, you will not receive any increases to your pension until you reach age 55.