Tupe and council pension

I work for a scottish local council and my job is being taken over by a charitable trust. My understanding of Tupe is that the charitable trust will be my new employer when the date of the takeover comes and a new contract will be issued. The local government pension scheme states that I cannot claim my pension and still be employed by the council. However, I was wondering if I could take my pension when my contract is ended at the new trust taking over as I feel that I won't be employed by the council anymore but still carry on doing the same job. Your thoughts please?

Comments

  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    Scotland may be different, but in England and Wales, such TUPE would often leave you in the local government pension scheme and the rules would remain the same. The pension would be attached to the job, not the employer - you couldn't retire and still work in the same job. But this can only be answered by the pension fund - there are variables that nobody here could know about.
  • You might be better off posting on the pensions board (if you haven't already done so)
  • hyubh
    hyubh Posts: 3,526
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    JohnAndrew wrote: »
    I work for a scottish local council and my job is being taken over by a charitable trust. My understanding of Tupe is that the charitable trust will be my new employer when the date of the takeover comes and a new contract will be issued. The local government pension scheme states that I cannot claim my pension and still be employed by the council.

    Check with the pension administrator (likely in house, though not necessary by your current employer) whether the charity will be entering the pension fund as an 'admission body' or will be offering a 'broadly comparable' scheme instead. It may the case that the former is the only option now, though I'm not sure, but in either scenario you won't be suddenly losing membership of a good-quality DB scheme (public sector employees being TUPE'd out are specially protected here).

    If the charity takes the admission body route, then you will have continuous service for pension purposes, so the rule about being unable to draw the pension while still employed in the employment it relates to will still apply. That said, opting out would be foolish anyhow, as the pension being earned is a significant element of your overall renumeration package.
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    I didn't think the OP was suggesting that they opt out. I think they wanted to claim the pension and continue with the job as well.
  • hyubh
    hyubh Posts: 3,526
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    sangie595 wrote: »
    I didn't think the OP was suggesting that they opt out. I think they wanted to claim the pension and continue with the job as well.

    Yes, but opting out just prior to the TUPE could potentially be a way to draw the pension shortly afterwards, were the charity to enter into an admission agreement with the pension fund. This is because not being in the scheme at the point of the TUPE may lead to him becoming illegible for it after the transfer, 'avoiding' the rule about having to leave the employment pertaining to the pension being drawn.

    The only other option is to enquire with the employer about a flexible retirement, however I imagine the TUPE makes the successful chances relatively dim... though who knows, the OP would just have to ask HR.
  • JohnAndrew
    JohnAndrew Posts: 30
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    thanks to everyone for their replies.
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