LGPS 85 year rule

iansmum

My husband wants to retire early in April 2019 when he will be 62. He will have been with the council for 22 years by then. He was thinking of not drawing his LGPS pension at that time because we read that he will lost 15.5% of the pension because he is drawing it three years early. Then i saw something about the 85 year rule, and though he will be one year short of this at that point i read somewhere that having only one year to go to achieve this there may be a reduced reduction in his pension. We would request a formal indication of his pension but they took weeks and weeks last time and then they didnt provide all the info we asked for (another story). Can anyone please advise based on our personal circumstances? Thank you.

Rich2808

There is a helpful factsheet here. Your husband is indeed eligible for 85 year rule protection as of next April as he joined the LPGS before October 2006 and his local government service plus age will be 85 or more. His pension for service prior to 31 March 2008 would not be subject to the actuarial reduction but there will be some reduction on his post 1 April 2008 service but not the full actuarial reduction.

I suggest he asks his pension provider for an estimate of the impact.

Another option of course is to go for phased/flexible retirement e.g. go down to 2 days a week but that is at his employer's discretion.

https://www.kentpensionfund.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/63067/Qs-and-As-about-the-85-year-rule-factsheet.pdf

iansmum

Thanks for replying so quickly Rich. I made it 84 years as he will be 62 and will have done 22 years with them. I wondered if he might benefit from being just a year off. Have I got that wrong? We find all,this very complicated!

Silvertabby

As Rich says, your husband is too young for full R85 protections.

If he leaves at 62 with 22 years service then he will be one year short of full protections on his pre 2008 pension.

The next big question is was he 60 before or after 31 March 2016.

This chart may be of help:

https://www.lgpsmember.org/more/eightyfive.php

A_Nice_Englishman

Does he have any pensions with previous employers he could transfer in? If so, that might push him over the magic 85 years.

Silvertabby

A_Nice_Englishman wrote: »

Does he have any pensions with previous employers he could transfer in? If so, that might push him over the magic 85 years.

No - he's still too young - and in any case there's a 12 month limit on transfers in.

A_Nice_Englishman

Silvertabby wrote: »

No - he's still too young - and in any case there's a 12 month limit on transfers in.

Not necessarily.

Your pension fund administrator can advise you of their process for transferring previous rights into the LGPS. You have only 12 months from joining the LGPS to opt to transfer your previous pension rights, unless your employer and your administering authority allows you longer. This is a discretion and you can ask your employer and administering authority what their policy is on this matter.

If the transfer in bought just one years additional service he'd have 23 years' service. Add his age (62) and he'd meet the 85 year rule.

https://www.lgpsmember.org/arm/already-member-tvin.php

Edited to add : His pre-March 2008 benefits would be protected, which is better than nothing.

GunJack

A_Nice_Englishman wrote: »

Not necessarily.



If the transfer in bought just one years additional service he'd have 23 years' service. Add his age (62) and he'd meet the 85 year rule.

https://www.lgpsmember.org/arm/already-member-tvin.php

Edited to add : His pre-March 2008 benefits would be protected, which is better than nothing.

But you can only transfer-in to LGPS within your first year of employment.....22 years is 21 years too late...

A_Nice_Englishman

GunJack wrote: »

But you can only transfer-in to LGPS within your first year of employment.....22 years is 21 years too late...

See the paragraph I quoted above.

iansmum

Thanks all. It sounds as if he’s just dipped out then. He does have another pension but it is a military one as he did 22 years with the army and soon 22 years with the council!
So if we are looking at a 5% drop for peach each year he draws his pension early that’s 15% over the 3 years? And is that simply a 5% drop based on the annual pension forecast? The way the LGPS do their statements we find quite complicated and when we did a request the other year they didn’t quote formit all as a few years ago the pension was split and they didn’t quote for that at All! We have one now but still hard to understand. Thanks.

A_Nice_Englishman

iansmum wrote: »

Thanks all. It sounds as if he’s just dipped out then. He does have another pension but it is a military one as he did 22 years with the army and soon 22 years with the council!
So if we are looking at a 5% drop for peach each year he draws his pension early that’s 15% over the 3 years? And is that simply a 5% drop based on the annual pension forecast? The way the LGPS do their statements we find quite complicated and when we did a request the other year they didn’t quote formit all as a few years ago the pension was split and they didn’t quote for that at All! We have one now but still hard to understand. Thanks.

It MAY be possible to add his army and local government service together, and this MAY result in a better total pension. Certainly worth talking to his LGPS administrator about.

https://www.lgpsmember.org/more/club.php