LGPS payment anomaly

grn99

I finally reached 60 years at the start of this year (Jan '25) and my deferred LGPS pension commenced payment In January this year. My contribiutions were between 1987 - 1997.

All the amounts they have paid made sense (circa £620)  but on reviewing my bankstatement there sems to be a one-off peak in April which is circa 150% (£900 ish) of the normal monthly amount. After April it went back to a very slightly higher than previous payment amounts and that has continued.

What I'm wondering is whether the April payment was an error requiring me to go back to Peninsula Pensions who seem to run the scheme and flag it/query it.

Thanks in anticipation

Dazed_and_C0nfused

grn99 said:

I finally reached 60 years at the start of this year (Jan '25) and my deferred LGPS pension commenced payment In January this year. My contribiutions were between 1987 - 1997.

All the amounts they have paid made sense (circa £620)  but on reviewing my bankstatement there sems to be a one-off peak in April which is circa 150% (£900 ish) of the normal monthly amount. After April it went back to a very slightly higher than previous payment amounts and that has continued.

What I'm wondering is whether the April payment was an error requiring me to go back to Peninsula Pensions who seem to run the scheme and flag it/query it.

Thanks in anticipation

Did you get a PCLS when the pension started?

If so could it be a second bite (might be wrong phrase?) payment linked to a belated inflation increase being applied?

Marcon

Any chance it could be accounted for by a change in tax code applied to your pension? Your personal tax account would clarify.

grn99

Thanks - Forgot that bit! yes I did, I think what was circa 3 x the annual pension.

grn99

Marcon said:

Any chance it could be accounted for by a change in tax code applied to your pension? Your personal tax account would clarify.

No, I don’t think so - HMRC have given me a reassuringly low 1032N (£10,327) - part married allowance given away and some savings interest (£983) related aspect reducing it even further. But that was already the code as far as I know.

hyubh

grn99 said:

Thanks - Forgot that bit! yes I did, I think what was circa 3 x the annual pension.

Insofar as it was intentional, Dazed_and_C0nfused's suggestion ('second bite' or more formally 'supplementary Pensions Increase' on your lump sum/retirement grant) seems most likely, although I would have expected a letter from the administrator telling you this. Do you have an account with Peninsula Pensions' Member Self Service (MSS) portal? If so, other things being equal I'd expect a letter that might have got mislaid to be available there. Failing that, I'd just ask them.

grn99

Thanks, I’ll have a look in the portal but certainly no letter received.

update: Many thanks, I found a document in the portal after all. Didn’t realise they just posted things there without giving any heads-up 😬🙄😀