85 year rule query

olly45

Hi, I have a member of a LGPS  since 1994 and have recently reduced my working hours from full time 37 hours a week to 19. My plan is to struggle through until next may (2023) when I will be 60 and then retire under the rule of 85 for which I will qualify. However I have many questions on this and I am hoping that someone on hear could help me with.
1  can I go under the rule of 85 at age 60 or is this still at the employers discretion ?
2  would I be better off if I asked to take flexible or phased retirement  as opposed until waiting until I am 60 and taking full retirement?
3 Does the benefits projector on my LGPS members portal site reflect the figures using the rule of 85 or would requesting a written forecast show that.
I am not sure of which path to take at present so would be grateful of any advice.
many thanks 
Olly

Retireinten

LGPS member here, I will answer this bits I can and hopefully silvertabby will be along to clarify later.

1. As long as your age plus years service totals 85 or more (with no significant breaks in service) then your pension will be calculated using rule of 85.  Permission from your employer is not required. 

2. I don't know much about phased retirement but I suspect if you access your pension before 60 in any capacity then you lose the 85 rule benefits and therefore any protection for your pension built up in the 2008 scheme. Hopefully Silvertabby will confirm otherwise. So I think your plan to work part time and retire at 60 is a sensible option, as long as you can afford it.

3. I believe different LGPS administrators use different portals so I don't think anyone can answer this question other than your scheme administrator.  Notts County Council administer my LGPS and we have no online access at all! 

Andy_L

olly45 said:

Hi, I have a member of a LGPS  since 1994 and have recently reduced my working hours from full time 37 hours a week to 19. My plan is to struggle through until next may (2023) when I will be 60 and then retire under the rule of 85 for which I will qualify. However I have many questions on this and I am hoping that someone on hear could help me with.
1  can I go under the rule of 85 at age 60 or is this still at the employers discretion ?
2  would I be better off if I asked to take flexible or phased retirement  as opposed until waiting until I am 60 and taking full retirement?
3 Does the benefits projector on my LGPS members portal site reflect the figures using the rule of 85 or would requesting a written forecast show that.
I am not sure of which path to take at present so would be grateful of any advice.
many thanks 
Olly

At 60+ its a right. Employers agreement is only needed if you want to retire earlier

olly45

Andy_L said:

olly45 said:

Hi, I have a member of a LGPS  since 1994 and have recently reduced my working hours from full time 37 hours a week to 19. My plan is to struggle through until next may (2023) when I will be 60 and then retire under the rule of 85 for which I will qualify. However I have many questions on this and I am hoping that someone on hear could help me with.
1  can I go under the rule of 85 at age 60 or is this still at the employers discretion ?
2  would I be better off if I asked to take flexible or phased retirement  as opposed until waiting until I am 60 and taking full retirement?
3 Does the benefits projector on my LGPS members portal site reflect the figures using the rule of 85 or would requesting a written forecast show that.
I am not sure of which path to take at present so would be grateful of any advice.
many thanks 
Olly

At 60+ its a right. Employers agreement is only needed if you want to retire earlier

Many thanks for that , I have read so much on that rule, but the way it is worded on my pension site is that it could be taken as  their discretion, but I guess that applies only if you want to go between 55 - 60. cheers...

Silvertabby

Just to clarify that at OP's age only pre 2008 benefits have R85 protections.

Retiring voluntarily at 60 means that:

Benefits to 31March 2008 will be unreduced for early payment.

Benefits from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2014 will be reduced for payment before 65.

Benefits from 1 April 2014 to date of leaving will be reduced for early payment before SPA.

olly45

Retireinten said:

LGPS member here, I will answer this bits I can and hopefully silvertabby will be along to clarify later.

1. As long as your age plus years service totals 85 or more (with no significant breaks in service) then your pension will be calculated using rule of 85.  Permission from your employer is not required. 

2. I don't know much about phased retirement but I suspect if you access your pension before 60 in any capacity then you lose the 85 rule benefits and therefore any protection for your pension built up in the 2008 scheme. Hopefully Silvertabby will confirm otherwise. So I think your plan to work part time and retire at 60 is a sensible option, as long as you can afford it.

3. I believe different LGPS administrators use different portals so I don't think anyone can answer this question other than your scheme administrator.  Notts County Council administer my LGPS and we have no online access at all! 

Many thanks, that has made a lot of things clearer for me. who knew that trying to draw a pension was such a minefield . I will contact them on the projection side of it. the only reason I asked that was the projection for when I am 60 next year was only slightly larger than if I were to go now at 59, so I assumed the rule of 85 had not been applied. cheers...

olly45

Silvertabby said:

Just to clarify that at OP's age only pre 2008 benefits have R85 protections.

Retiring voluntarily at 60 means that:

Benefits to 31March 2008 will be unreduced for early payment.

Benefits from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2014 will be reduced for payment before 65.

Benefits from 1 April 2014 to date of leaving will be reduced for early payment before SPA.

Thank you for the clarification, things are seeming a lot clearer now. many thanks..