Transfer Private Pension into Gov Pension

Andy_L

ChrisK..... wrote: »

It's with the Leicester county council

https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/jobs-and-volunteering/working-for-the-council/local-government-pensions/contacting-the-pension-section

Leicester are only accepting transfer ins from "another LGPS employer or scheme which is part of the Public Sector Transfer Club. "

https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/jobs-and-volunteering/working-for-the-council/local-government-pensions/active-members/pension-scheme-–-frequently-asked-questions

dunstonh

I contacted my gov works pension, they said they don't transfer private pensions in, only other gov pensions. I said that I could cash them out and transfer the cash, she said no problem because I am allowed to put cash in. That makes it a "technicality"

It doesn't make it a technicality as it's not doign the same thing and comes with consequences.

Additional contributions are effectively a bolt on to the main scheme. However, you say you are in the 50/50 section. So, the APC is not available to you.

The 50/50 section of the LGPS is for people who are struggling with money and cannot afford to make the full personal contribution. So, they pay half and get half the benefit. It would not be logical to be in the 50/50 option and have the APC available. And they dont. It would leave the Govt open to missale complaints (even though it would technically be a misbuy rather than a missale)

So, as you do not have the APC available, that means the only other option available to you is the in-house AVC. That is available to 50/50 members (although goodness knows why).

The person you spoke to seems to think they will accept "cash". So, they must only be referring to the in-house AVC. However, that is likely to be not as good as an external personal pension/SIPP. Although there are some rare job positions where the employer will pay into the AVC as a contribution. It also doesn't achieve your objective to transfer into the LGPS as the in-house AVC is a separate scheme.

hyubh

ChrisK..... wrote: »

It is a 50 50 government pension

That still doesn't make sense, sorry. There is a thing called the 50:50 section in the LGPS, however it is something you will have explicitly opted into (basically, pay half the normal contribution for half the normal pension):

https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/jobs-and-volunteering/working-for-the-council/local-government-pensions/active-members/contribution-flexibility-and-the-5050-scheme

but she did say they will accept top ups in the form of cash

The LGPS term is an 'Additional Pension Contributions' (APC) contract to purchase additional DB pension. Separately, there is the option of taking out a money purchase AVC (similar to a personal pension, but linked to your main benefits for tax free cash purposes).

Read this:

https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/jobs-and-volunteering/working-for-the-council/local-government-pensions/active-members/increasing-your-pension-benefits

And/or this (includes an APC calculator):

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

a conversation with a government advisor suggests that they should not be differentiating between transferring in public or private pensions so I'm going to go back to them and see what the problem is

Non-Club transfers in are an administering authority discretion - if that's the county council's policy, then that's its policy. From the scheme regulations:

(7) Where a request under paragraph (1) is duly made, the administering authority may accept the transfer value and credit it to its pension fund.

(8) Where a relevant transfer is a Club Transfer, the administering authority must comply with the provisions in the Club Memorandum in relation to that transfer.

https://lgpsregs.org/schemeregs/lgpsregs2013/timeline.php#r100

woolly_wombat

Andy_L wrote: »

Leicester are only accepting transfer ins from "another LGPS employer or scheme which is part of the Public Sector Transfer Club. "

https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/jobs-and-volunteering/working-for-the-council/local-government-pensions/active-members/pension-scheme-–-frequently-asked-questions

Interesting.

I wasn't aware that individual LGPS funds could decline a request to transfer in non-club pensions within 12 months of joining the LGPS, but this confirms that they can:

https://lgpsmember.org/more/tvin-nonLGPS.php

If you have paid into a non-LGPS pension scheme, you may be able to transfer your previous pension rights into the LGPS. A non-LGPS arrangement must be another registered pension scheme or a European pensions institution.

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.......

Your pension fund may decline to accept a transfer from a non-LGPS pension scheme.