Time away from work

If you have time away from work and your pension contributions reduce, it could impact on your pension, depending on the reason for your absence.

This page explains what happens to your pension benefits if you have time off work due to:

• Sick leave
• Child related leave
• Strike or industrial action
• Reserve forces leave
• Any other type of authorised unpaid leave
• 85-year rule protection

If you have time off work because you're sick or injured, your pension will not be affected. You will continue to build up pension benefits in the Scheme as if you had not been off, even if your contributions reduce or stop all together.

Contributions will be deducted from any pay you receive.

If you’re in the 50/50 section and go onto unpaid sick leave, you will be moved back to the main section of the Scheme from the beginning of the next pay period. You will then build up full pension benefits in the LGPS even though you won’t be paying contributions.

If you’re on full or reduced pay and you already have an agreement in place to pay extra into your pension, you can continue to pay contributions from any pay you receive.

If you wish to stop paying:

• Additional Pension Contributions (APCs) or a Qualifying Additional Pension Arrangement (QAPA), contact us. We will stop payments and credit your account with the amount you have purchased until that date
• Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs), contact your employer to cease contributions. However, you should check with your AVC provider if there are any implications of stopping an AVC contract. For shared-cost AVCs, contact your employer

If you're on nil pay and were already contributing towards an APC contract or QAPA before you went off sick, these will be added to your pension account as if you had continued to pay them. This applies for all types of extra pension contracts already in place except for AVCs and part time buy back (pre-1 April 2014).

If you are permanently unable to do your current job and immediately unable to do any other job, you could ask your employer to consider your eligibility for ill-health retirement. For more information on eligibility and the process involved, see ill-health retirement.

There are different rules for relevant child related leave and unpaid child related leave.

Relevant child related leave includes:

• ordinary maternity or adoption leave (normally the first 26 weeks)
• paid additional maternity or adoption leave (normally after week 26 and up to week 39)
• paternity leave
• paid shared parental leave
• paid neonatal care leave
• paid parental bereavement leave
• bereaved partner’s paternity leave (paid or unpaid, up to 52 weeks)

If you have time off work for one of these reasons, your pension benefits will not be affected. You will continue to build up pension benefits in the Scheme as if you had not been off.

Contributions will be deducted from any pay you receive.

No matter how much you pay, your pension benefits will continue to build up as if you were at work.

If you’re in the 50/50 section and go onto nil pay during relevant child related leave, you'll be moved to the main section of the Scheme from the beginning of the next pay period. You will then build up full pension benefits in the LGPS even though your pension contributions have stopped.

Unpaid additional child-related leave includes:

• additional maternity leave
• additional adoption leave
• additional shared parental leave
• additional parental bereavement leave

If you had time off from work for one of these reasons, and it began before 1 April 2026, you won’t pay contributions or build up pension for the period. This means your pension will be lower than if you had not had the time off.

You can choose to make up for the lost pension during these periods by paying towards a lost pension APC, though you don’t have to. Your employer will contribute two thirds of the cost if you apply within 30 days of returning to work.

As of 1 April 2026, unpaid additional maternity leave, unpaid additional adoption leave and unpaid additional shared parental leave is pensionable. This means that if you take these types of leave on or after 1 April 2026, and the period of leave lasts for less than 15 days, you will continue to build up pension as normal. This does not apply to unpaid additional parental bereavement leave.

For leave that lasts 15 days or more, you won’t pay contributions or build up pension for the period. You can choose to buy back this lost pension through a Qualifying Additional Pension Arrangement (QAPA), though you don’t have to.

To find out more about lost pension APCs and QAPAs, see our webpage on buying back lost pension.

You won't build up pension for the period of absence if you're away from work for a day or more due to:

• strike
• trade dispute
• industrial action

You can choose to purchase a lost pension APC to make up for the pension you have lost. However, your employer will not normally contribute towards it, though you can ask them to.

Find out more about buying back lost LGPS pension.

If you’re paying Additional Pension Contributions (APCs) either for extra pension or lost pension, you can continue to pay these from any pay you receive while away from work or you can give notice to cancel the contract(s) and we will credit your account with the amount you have purchased until that date.

If your pay stops and you wish to continue paying these when you return to work, you should discuss this directly with your employer.

If you're paying Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs), contact your employer to cease contributions. However, you should check with your AVC provider if there are any implications of stopping an AVC contract. For shared-cost AVCs, contact your employer.

If you go on reserve forces leave, you can choose to remain in the LGPS, but you don’t have to.

If you do, your employer will notify you how much the pension contributions will be. You then need to provide this value to the Ministry of Defence so that the correct deductions can be made and paid across to us.

If you remain in the Scheme, you will have the same pension build-up as you would have had if you had continued in your usual position. Your pension will be worked out based on the pay you would have received in your LGPS employment.

If you decide not to remain the LGPS when you go on reserve forces leave, you will not build up pension benefits for the period of leave.

If you already have an APC agreement in place, you can continue to pay contributions from your pay. Inform your employer, who will notify you of the amounts to be deducted.

If the pay you receive while on reserve forces leave is equal to or higher than your usual pay and you are paying:

• for added years (pre 1 April 2008)
• for a cohabiting partner’s pension (pre 1 April 2008)
• ARCs (pre 1 April 2014)

you should continue to pay these.

If your pay is lower than your normal pay, your contributions are deemed to have been paid for the above contracts.

If you're paying AVCs, you can continue to pay these from any pay you receive.

You can choose to stop paying towards an AVC fund, but you should check the implications of stopping contributions with your AVC provider.

Other types of authorised unpaid leave could include:

• sabbatical
• annual leave purchase
• agreed unpaid time away from work

If you had time off from work for one of these reasons, and it began before 1 April 2026, you won’t pay contributions or build up pension for the period. This means your pension will be lower than if you had not had the time off.

You can choose to make up for the lost pension during these periods by paying towards a lost pension APC, though you don’t have to. Your employer will contribute two thirds of the cost if you apply within 30 days of returning to work.

As of 1 April 2026, these types of leave are pensionable. This means that if you take these types of leave on or after 1 April 2026, and the period of leave lasts for less than 15 days, you will continue to build up pension as normal.

For leave that lasts 15 days or more, you won’t pay contributions or build up pension for the period. You can choose to buy back this lost pension through a Qualifying Additional Pension Arrangement (QAPA), though you don’t have to.

To find out more about lost pension APCs and QAPAs, see our webpage on buying back lost pension.

If you already have an agreement in place to pay extra into your pension and you're on unpaid leave, these contributions will stop, and we will credit your account with the amount you have purchased at that date. If you wish to continue paying these when you return to work, you should discuss this directly with your employer.

If you're paying AVCs, you can continue to pay these from any pay you receive.

You can choose to stop paying towards an AVC fund, but you should check the implications of stopping contributions with your AVC provider.

If you were in the Scheme between 1 April 1998 and 30 September 2006, you will have 85-year rule protection.

If you choose not to pay to make up for any ‘lost period of service’ this will count as a break in service.

This means it will not be included in the calculation for the 85-year rule and could therefore impact the date your pre-April 2014 pension benefits are payable without reductions.

If you have any queries about this, get in touch.