Do i transfer my NHS pension to LGPS

wookiemcbear

Hiya all 

Im 43 and i have been paying in to my NHS pension for the past 20 years, i have not got a job in the council and ive been offered to move my pension over to them but I'm unsure if its a good idea. in my NHS pension i have 9 years in the 1995 part and the rest is in the agender for change 2015.

any help you can offer me would be greatly received. 

hyubh

wookiemcbear said:

Im 43 and i have been paying in to my NHS pension for the past 20 years, i have not got a job in the council and ive been offered to move my pension over to them but I'm unsure if its a good idea. in my NHS pension i have 9 years in the 1995 part and the rest is in the agender for change 2015.

Transferring will involve separate credits for the final salary and CARE parts of your NHS pension. Looking at the former first, this will involve restoring a final salary link. So, if your council pay (full time equivalent if part time) at the end is greater than your NHS pay uprated by inflation, other things being equal that will be a strong benefit. (Left where it is, your NHS pension will rise by inflation each year.)

However, the normal pension age (NPA) for the final salary service credit in the LGPS will be 65, so at least 5 years later than your NHS final salary pension NPA. The size of the credit will be bigger than 9 years to make up for the fact, but still, if you value the lower NPA, it may not make up for it 'enough'. Also as things stand, you can't take final salary and CARE parts of an LGPS pension separately outside of a formal flexible retirement scenario.

When it comes to the CARE part, transferring will be a good thing as you will get the NHS CARE scheme's revaluation rate while an active LGPS member, which is higher than how an NHS CARE pension revalues in deferment (and for that matter, how an LGPS CARE pension revalues either in service or in deferment). This is a requirement of so-called 'Club' rules, which govern transfers between different public sector pension schemes.