Local Government Pension scheme

Hi there,

(You may be better off reposting this to the main pensions board as this sub-board is not visited as often.)

In order to decide whether to combine pension schemes or not you need to clarify how many years you have in which schemes, and what the details of each scheme are - you need to know what the retirement ages are for each scheme, what deferred benefits you have in each scheme etc. One major factor is that the Local Government Pension Scheme changed in 2014 from a Final Salary scheme to a CARE (career average) scheme with a scheme pension age tied to the state pension age rather than being 65 as in the old scheme. In my LGPS scheme (and I think in every one) I have to take my post-2014 and pre-2014 benefits at the same time, so if I take my benefits at 65, post-2014 scheme pension will be actuarially reduced or alternatively if I take the benefits at my state retirement age of 67, the pre-2014 benefits will be actuarially increased. One factor against combining all your schemes is therefore that you could take some of your pensions earlier than others without actuarial reduction - you need to work out what's best for you.

Another factor is how much your salary has changed in the interim. If your current salary has increased significantly compared to the salary in one or more of your old schemes, it may be that it's worth combining the employments anyway, as this might increase your pension significantly.

There are likely to be many more factors to consider; you need to supply more information to get the best guidance - for example, do you want to retire early? Also, do consider re-posting on the main board; there are many people there who know a lot more than me and will advise you better.