LGPS retirement & subsequent pay award

Dave_5150

I was granted an LGPS Ill Health pension in June 2025.

An annual 3.2% pay award was agreed shortly afterwards to take affect from 1 April 2025, which may increase may my final salary at my leaving date.

1. Should my annual pension and lump sum be recalculated to reflect the final salary increase?

2. If so will this happen automatically or do I need to request it?

3. If I need to request this do I contact my previous employer or the pension scheme?

4. Is there a specific LGPS term for what I am asking them to do?

I was employed for over 35 years.  So a significant portion of my annual pension is based on my final salary, along with my entire lump sum.

Robin9

I had a similar experience with voluntary redundancy .

Left June while the negotiations were taking place - finally agreed in Sept, backdated to April.

I was told employees are not automatically entitled to a pay rise.  Not even to increased hourly rate on overtime for April/May

Dave_5150

Robin9 said:

I was told employees are not automatically entitled to a pay rise.  Not even to increased hourly rate on overtime for April/May

I did not have an issue with getting my backpay after the pay award. But I did have to request it from my former employer's payroll team. Hence my concern that I may need to take action to get my pension amended.

daveyjp

You will need to formally request for the pension to be recalculated to reflect the new pay award.

https://lgpslibrary.org/assets/gas/ew/Pay%20award%20FAQs%20v1.0.pdf

Dave_5150

daveyjp said:

You will need to formally request for the pension to be recalculated to reflect the new pay award.

https://lgpslibrary.org/assets/gas/ew/Pay%20award%20FAQs%20v1.0.pdf

Thank you. I had read through that .PDF before but I struggled to find the relevant point (brain fog!). But having had another look after following your link I can clearly see:

"If an employee leaves employment before the award is agreed, do we need to pay the award?

This is a question of employment law. In our view, you are not obliged to contact former employees to offer the pay award. However, if the former employee requests it, the pay award should be applied and arrears paid"

In which case I need to know whether to contact my former employer, or the pension scheme? And whether there is a specific term for what I am requesting? (I will use their wording from the quoted PDF if not).

Marcon

Contact both. No specific term - just say you're asking for your pension to be recalculated to take the backdated pay award into account.

Lemon_dr1zzle

Contact the employer, who will then provide revised pay info to the scheme administrator. If you contact the administrator they will just tell you they can’t do anything until they are provided with the new info. 

Silvertabby

Yes, contact your employer first to request your pay arrears.  Once done, they will issue revised final pay details to your LGPS.

There will be an increase to your CARE accruals for these extra 3 months (plus ill health enhancement), but two things to note re your pre 2014  final pensionable pay figure:

1.  This is calculated over your final 365 days, and so the increase will only apply from April to your last day of service.  Will therefore be less than 1%, not the full year's increase of 3.2%.

2.  If your current benefits were calculated using a best year figure, that may still be higher than your leaving pensionable pay plus <1%.  So any increase will be limited to your CARE accruals only.

Dave_5150

Silvertabby said:

Yes, contact your employer first to request your pay arrears.  Once done, they will issue revised final pay details to your LGPS.

There will be an increase to your CARE accruals for these extra 3 months (plus ill health enhancement), but two things to note re your pre 2014  final pensionable pay figure:

1.  This is calculated over your final 365 days, and so the increase will only apply from April to your last day of service.  Will therefore be less than 1%, not the full year's increase of 3.2%.

2.  If your current benefits were calculated using a best year figure, that may still be higher than your leaving pensionable pay plus <1%.  So any increase will be limited to your CARE accruals only.

Thanks @Silvertabby . Is there any lump sum increase and how is that calculated please?

Silvertabby

Dave_5150 said:

Silvertabby said:

Yes, contact your employer first to request your pay arrears.  Once done, they will issue revised final pay details to your LGPS.

There will be an increase to your CARE accruals for these extra 3 months (plus ill health enhancement), but two things to note re your pre 2014  final pensionable pay figure:

1.  This is calculated over your final 365 days, and so the increase will only apply from April to your last day of service.  Will therefore be less than 1%, not the full year's increase of 3.2%.

2.  If your current benefits were calculated using a best year figure, that may still be higher than your leaving pensionable pay plus <1%.  So any increase will be limited to your CARE accruals only.

Thanks @Silvertabby . Is there any lump sum increase and how is that calculated please?

If you just took the pre 2008 automatic lump sum then that will increase by less than 1% (or not at all if your benefits were calculated using a best year figure).

If you commuted, then any increase will be down to a number of factors.