LGPS retirement help needed please!

hyubh

Teaandscones wrote: »

What I find bizarre is that the very useful option outlined by MRMX9 of taking LGPS benefits in tranches only applies if someone is granted flexible retirement. If they retire or move to a job outside local government they have to take all the benefits at the same time.

Not true - a DB can be brought into payment while the retiree is still a member from another employment. The case were you can't is when you have a single membership, be this from a single employment or from having previous DBs combined.

inthebubble

So, are we all agreed that the earlier poster was mistaken and that it's not possible to stop work and choose to take a LGPS pension in pre and post 2008 tranches?

Sadly, it seems so.

MARTYM8`

inthebubble wrote: »

So, are we all agreed that the earlier poster was mistaken and that it's not possible to stop work and choose to take a LGPS pension in pre and post 2008 tranches?

Sadly, it seems so.

Yes - I was perhaps a little loose with my wording.

I think what I was trying to highlight was that if the vast majority of your service was pre 2008 (and some 2008-2014 which doesn't suffer a reduction at 65) you could take the majority of your pension and retire early without the actuarial reduction on that bit - but you would still take the full hit on the post April 2014. So there is still 85 year rule protection for those who retire post 2020 - albeit its more likely to be of use to some than others.

So apologies for any confusion.

It would be really nice rather than having endless factsheets and guides on websites if the LGPS could produce a single comprehensive explanatory guide so people can truly understand their rights and options. Cos at present the scheme is as clear as mud even for informed people - and its getting worse. I only found out by accident about the AVC lump sum changes introduced in April - and I have an AVC.

Many people for example with lots of pre 2014 service and who are at the top of their payscale might be better off leaving and rejoining to get deferred benefits - which will rise by CPI (not the 1% pay rise people will be lucky to get for the next 5 years) and potentially allow them to take those deferred benefits separately (which is my understanding of how it works). Flexible retirements will also facilitate this - but they are subject to your employers approval (so be nice to your boss and head of HR!) and therefore cannot be guaranteed.

Given the scheme seems to be changed every other year it will soon be impossible for the experts to follow - as many people will end up with loads different LGPS versions with different rules. The online calculators will be fun!

jem16

MARTYM8` wrote: »

I only found out by accident about the AVC lump sum changes introduced in April - and I have an AVC.

If your AVC was started prior to April 2014 you are not affected by the changes.

hyubh

It would be really nice rather than having endless factsheets and guides on websites if the LGPS could produce a single comprehensive explanatory guide so people can truly understand their rights and options.

You can't make something straightforward that isn't. If the existing guides are 'endless' that's because the subject-matter isn't simple.

Cos at present the scheme is as clear as mud even for informed people - and its getting worse.

The complexity is mainly due to several layers of historical protections, and for the people who benefit, the complexity is actually a good thing. E.g., say every active member on 31 March got a DB so that everyone started afresh on 1 April. Wouldn't that have made things simpler! However, it would also have meant anyone affected who subsequently got an early retirement through redundancy (for example) severely losing out. If you were to say, well, in such a case the DB should be taken out of... you would just have re-introduced the sort of complexity previously complained about.

I only found out by accident about the AVC lump sum changes introduced in April - and I have an AVC.

If you already had an AVC taken out, how do the changes affect you?

Given the scheme seems to be changed every other year it will soon be impossible for the experts to follow - as many people will end up with loads different LGPS versions with different rules. The online calculators will be fun!

Better that and the scheme continue rather than the scheme just end for cost reasons...

MARTYM8`

jem16 wrote: »

If your AVC was started prior to April 2014 you are not affected by the changes.

Yes - I agree that I am not as I have an AVC already. But we are looking at things here more generally - not just what affects us personally.

But I never saw any communication about it until I found it by accident on my providers website - the only LGPS leaflet we were given at our authority spent half the time saying how great the new 2014 scheme was cos you could retire at 55!

I don't deny its a good scheme - but the problem is the vast majority of members don't actually understand it fully and therefore better education is needed. That is all I am saying!