Council run Pension scheme

dave555

This may be a silly question,
The wife can go into a Derbyshire council pension scheme. Final salary 1/60 th with life insurance early retirement benifits etc
On her salary circa 25k it would mean around £110 a month.
She has officially 20 years to go. Is this a good bet or is savings in ISA's still good.

Beat me with a stick if its a no brainer

Dave

seven-day-weekend

Getting stick out....

The Local Government Pension Scheme is one of the best in the country and one of the few final salary schemes still available.

The Pensions experts will tell you more I am sure.

margaretclare

Your wife (not the wife) should join this scheme on day one.

The life insurance alone is worth it, as my widowed son-in-law found out when my daughter (who had joined Notts County Council scheme on day one) died suddenly after 6 weeks' employment.

nesssie1702

Life insurance in the LGPS is normally 3 x Salary.

After 20 years service, she would get relatively good pension. Your wife can also transfer previous pensions into the LGPS scheme as well, which might be worth doing?

dave555

Thanks for the replies.

Ill get her started with the forms.
Do you think they will accept a protected rights frozen pension of about £5k as a transfer in from the prudential, and is it worth doing ?
Just so it tidys everything up a bit.

Dave

jh2009

Even more of a no brainer when you take into account the £110 contribution she will make gets full tax relief, so will only really cost her £88.

(if you dont join, she wont get £110 extra in her pay but £88, but if you join the government in tax relief is paying 20% of the cost).

jh2009

As for transfer in, ask the scheme direct, although they do not legally have to accept any transfer payment.

If they accept it they may convert it into a service credit (eg 2 months pensionable service) which will feed into the benefit formula when they calculate her benefit at leaving. The Scheme should be able to confirm this if you contact them once she has joined.

As for is a transfer worth doing, then we cannot answer that here. She should though look at the benefit she is giving up and compare it to any benefit that the new scheme offers. If a service credit (eg 3 months) is offered then bear in mind the final benefit will be based on her salary at retirement or leaving if earlier so you can use that as a comparison against any predicted figures from the Prudential. If she is unsure then she could seek financial advice.

Oldernotwiser

A third of her final salary, index linked and with all the benefits that go with it; why would you even hesitate?