Rule of 85 / LGPS

lurcherphile

Hello Newbie here.  I have been in the West Midlands Pension Fund since early 2001, I am coming up to 25 years membership as an active member and I am thinking of leaving my job soon at the age of 57.  I have been trying to understand the Rule of 85 and have put several questions to my pension fund through their online portal but they haven't actually answered my questions properly.  If I were to leave my job at the point in time when I have (just) achieved 25 years' active membership,  but then not claim my LGPS pension straight away, i.e. become a deferred member and not actually claim my WMPF pension until I have just turned 60, am I right that my pre 1st April 2008 benefits should be paid without any reduction for early retirement?  My pension fund don't  seem able to answer this question, they have said "If you wish to defer until pension after you leave your employment, you can run a leavers estimates on the portal. This will be an estimate of what your pension would be deferred at and claimed at your full pension age plus any CPI. Until your pension is deferred you are unable to get an estimate of what it would be if claimed at 60" (sic) .   I've run a leavers estimate for the day after I will have achieved 25 years' active membership, but I don't know how to calculate what the early retirement reductions would be for the pre 1/4/2008 part, for the 1/4/2008 to 31/3/2014 part, and for the 1/4/2014 to "date of leaving" part.  I've also, separately,  run estimates for ordinary retirement for "the day before I turn 60" and, separately, for "the day after I turn 60", and they are virtually identical, which I find hard to understand as I would have thought that they should be really quite different.   

(I have a defined contribution pension from prior to when I became a Local Government employee, which I can draw down on, between when I leave my Local Government job, and when I reach the age of 60 - I would only do that, if it seems "worth my while" doing that, as opposed to starting to draw my LGPS pension as soon as I leave work - without knowing what the early retirement reductions would be, "at 60", as opposed to, "at 57 and a bit", it is hard to know if it is worth my while doing this). 

Thanks.

AlanP_2

The LGPS main website covers the factors in detail along with R85:

https://www.lgpsmember.org/your-pension/planning/taking-your-pension/

Silvertabby

Yes, if you leave at 57 but defer payment until 60, then your pre April 2008 benefits (including the automatic lump sum) will be payable without reduction.  Your 2008 to 2014 benefits will be reduced for early payment before age 65, and your post April 2014 benefits will be reduced for early payment before SPA (67?).

You will not be able to split your benefits by just taking your pre 2008 pension/lump sum at 60, and leaving the rest until 65/67.