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 kept 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 as at 31 March, 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 1st April 2015 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.
If you are re-joining another public sector pension scheme within 5 years your deferred membership will be linked to your new membership. You will usually have the option of keeping these two sets of benefits separate and have 12 months from the date you re-join to choose to keep them separate.
What happens if I join another occupational pension scheme?
It is possible to transfer your LGPS pension to another pension arrangement. Your new scheme will 'convert' the value of your deferred benefit to purchase an additional value in the new scheme.
For service from 1st April 2015
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 at 31 March.
Each year you will build up a pension of 1/49 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 2009 to March 31 2015
If you joined the Scheme for the first time on or after 1 April 2009 (but before 1 April 2015), your benefits 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 before 1st April 2009
If you have membership before 1 April 2009, the benefits you earned before 1 April 2009 are worked out as:
Pension = final pay x membership ÷ 80
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 2009 the two amounts of pension and tax free lump sum will then be added together to give you your total benefits.
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 2015 will be your full time equivalent rate.
Your membership will be proportionate based on the actual hours you worked.
For membership after 1 April 2015 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 earns £20,000 a year as at April 2015.
Bob has built up 20 years membership before 1 April 2015 and will build up another 6 years membership in the Scheme before he retires.
For service from 1st April 2015:
| Year | Pensionable pay | Pension earned | Brought forward | Revalued value |
| 2015/16 | £20,000 | £408.16 | £0 | £407.76 |
| 2016/17 | £20,400 | £416.32 | £407.76 | £832.32 |
| 2017/18 | £20,808 | £424.65 | £832.321 | £1,294.68 |
| 2018/19 | £21,224 | £433.14 | £1,294.68 | £1,769.30 |
| 2019/20 | £21,648 | £441.80 | £1,769.30 | £2,248.68 |
| 2020/21 | £22,081 | £450.63 | £2,248.68 | £2,699.31 |
Note
The above is based on actual revaluation for the financial years between 2015/16 and 2020/21. It is assumed that his pay will increase each year by 2% throughout.
For membership between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2016:
Pension = final pay x membership x 1/60
Pension = £22,081 x 6 ÷ 60 = £2,208.10 a year
For membership before 1 April 2009:
Pension = final pay x membership x 1/80
Pension = £22,081 x 14 ÷ 80 = £3,864.18 a year
Lump sum = £3,864.18 x 3 = £11,592.53
So Bob's total benefit will be:
Pension = £8,771.59 a year (£2,699.31 + £3,864.18 + £2,208.10)
Lump sum = £11,592.53
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 2015 will be your full time equivalent rate. Your membership will be proportionate based on the actual hours you worked. For membership after 1 April 2015 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 and earns £10,000 a year, as at April 2015, her full time equivalent pay is £20,000.
She has worked for 20 years before 1 April 2015 and will work for another 6 years before she retires.
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 2009 and 3 years after 1 April 2009.
For membership from 1 April 2015:
| Year | Pensionable pay | Pension earned | Brought forward | Revalued value |
| 2015/16 | £10,000 | £204.08 | £0 | £203.88 |
| 2016/17 | £10,200 | £208.16 | £203.88 | £416.16 |
| 2017/18 | £10,404 | £212.33 | £416.16 | £647.34 |
| 2018/19 | £10,612 | £216.57 | £647.34 | £884.65 |
| 2019/20 | £10,824 | £220.90 | £884.65 | £1,124.34 |
| 2020/21 | £11,040 | £225.31 | £1,124.34 | £1,349.65 |
Note
The above is based on actual revaluation for financial years between 2015/16 and 2019/20. It is assumed that her pay will increase each year by 2% throughout.
So the pension for the period from 1 April 2015 to 1 April 2020 is £1,349.65 a year.
For membership between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2015:
Pension = final pay (full time equivalent) x membership (proportionate to part time hours) x 1/60
Pension = £22,081 x 3 ÷ 60 = £1,104.05 a year
For the membership before 1 April 2009:
Pension = final pay (full time equivalent) x membership (proportionate to part time hours) x 1/80
Pension = £22,081 (full time equivalent) x 7 ÷ 80 = £1,932.09 a year
Lump sum = yearly pension x 3
Lump sum = £1,932.09 x 3 = £5,796.26
So Sue's total benefit will be:
Pension = £4,385.78 a year (£1,349.65 + £1,932.09 + £1,104.05)
Lump sum = £5,796.26