Late retirement
Retirement at age 75
Whilst you remain in local government employment you can continue to contribute to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) right up until 2 days before your 75th birthday. Benefits that become payable after your normal retirement age (NPA) are subject to an increase to reflect the fact that they are being paid after your NPA.
From 1 April 2014 your NPA will be linked to your state pension age (SPA) but with a minimum of age 65.
All LGPS benefits must be paid by your 75th birthday.
If you have been paying additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) you need to arrange for these to be brought into payment before the age of 75.
Retirement between your NPA and age 75
If you choose to continue working beyond your NPA your benefits must be paid before your 75th birthday. Because you are taking your benefits after your NPA, your benefits will be increased to reflect their 'late' payment in accordance with guidance issued by the government actuary (GAD). This guidance is subject to periodic review by GAD.
Benefits paid after your NPA will be paid without reduction regardless of the number of years' that you have and you are free to leave your job at any time and receive your benefits immediately.
If you retire beyond your NPA the increases apply in two ways, depending on when you reach NPA:
- 0.010% is applied to your pension and 0.001% is applied to any lump sum payment for each day worked between your NPA and 31 August 2019
From 1 September 2019, the guidance on this has changed, and any late retirement increases being calculated after this date are calculated based different factors based on how many years after NPA you are retiring:
Late Retirement Increases
| Number of Years Late | Increase on Pension (%) | Increase on Lump Sum (%) |
|---|
| 1 |
0.010 |
0.001 |
|---|
| 2 |
0.010 |
0.001 |
|---|
| 3 |
0.011 |
0.001 |
|---|
| 4 |
0.012 |
0.001 |
|---|
| 5 |
0.014 |
0.001 |
|---|
| 6 |
0.015 |
0.001 |
|---|
| 7 |
0.017 |
0.001 |
|---|
| 8 |
0.018 |
0.001 |
|---|
| 9 |
0.020 |
0.001 |
|---|
| 10 |
0.022 |
0.001 |
|---|
The full guidance with worked examples can be found here:
GAD Guidance on Late Retirement
The My Pension Portal system automatically uses these increases if you run a Benefit Projection with a date of leaving after your NPA.