Your pension career stage

Welcome to the personalised LGPS pension page for mid-career professionals.

Our aim for this page is for you to get a good understanding of your pension scheme membership and how your pension is performing if you’ve been a member for a while. If you’ve struggled to afford a pension previously and are now considering your options, we want to tell you why it’s good to have a Local Government Pension Scheme pension and how you can increase your benefits by paying extra if your affordability has improved.

About me

I have established my career and have 10 to 30 years working experience.

My pension knowledge

I know that a pension will give me an income in retirement, I know my employer and I pay into the scheme together, but I don’t feel fully informed about my pension benefit and I want to know more so I can plan for my financial wellbeing in retirement.

Five important facts about your pension

1. If you didn’t transfer in any previous pension within 12 months of starting with your scheme employer, you may not be able to transfer in any other pensions you have. Any requests to transfer in will be up to the discretion of your scheme employer. 
2. Your pension contribution percentage is salary based. If your salary changes, you may end up paying more, or less, pension contribution than you did before.  
3. You get an Annual Benefit Statement (ABS) in August or September every year. Your ABS will give you an estimated projection of what your LGPS pension will be worth at your retirement. 
4. You can top up your pension with extra payments either through an Additional Pension Contribution (APC) and/or an Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC).
5. You get a death in service benefit of three times your salary from day one of joining. This can be paid to a person you nominate and could take care of your family if you die unexpectedly.

My need-to-knows

• I have been paying into my pension for a while and I want to know what my pension benefit will be worth when I plan to retire or reach early, normal and/or state pension age.
• When I was in my early career, I opted out of a pension because I needed more disposable income but now that I’m earning more, I want to know if I can top up my pension now to improve my retirement income.
• I have multiple pension pots and want to know my options to combine them into one pension.
• I have family commitments that mean I need to assess my pension benefit and membership options to make sure my membership is the best fit for me.
• How does my career development affect my pension?
• What happens to my LGPS pension after a divorce?
• What happens to my LGPS pension during maternity leave?