Late retirement
Your LGPS pension is payable at your Normal Pension Age, but you can choose to receive it earlier or later.
If you take it earlier, it will be reduced as it will be in payment longer and if you take it later it will be increased.
Taking a pension after Normal Pension Age is known as a late retirement.
How late you can leave your LGPS pension
If you are still working in your LGPS employment, you can continue paying towards your pension until age 75.
If you are retired due to ill-health, redundancy or business efficiency or take flexible retirement, you won’t be able to defer taking your pension benefits when you leave.
If you leave your employment and your LGPS pension becomes deferred, you will be able to choose to leave it deferred until age 75, unless you left before 1 April 1998.
Once you reach age 75, we must put your pension benefits into payment, even if you are continuing to work in your LGPS employment. We will contact you to arrange payment of your pension benefits.
Late retirement increases on annual pension
Late retirement increases are an additional amount added to your annual pension. Annual pension is the amount you receive each year in retirement.
They will apply to:
- your pension benefits built up after 1 April 2014 from your Normal Pension Age
- your pension benefits built up before 1 April 2014 from age 65
Late retirement increase factors are set by the Government Actuary's Department and apply differently depending on the period concerned. These are shown in the table below.
| Years after Normal Pension Age |
Percentage increase (%) 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2023 |
Percentage increase (%) From 1 September 2023 to 13 July 2026 |
Percentage increase (%) From 14 July 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.010% | 0.0098% | 0.0107% |
| 2 | 0.010% | 0.0107% | 0.0116% |
| 3 | 0.011% | 0.0117% | 0.0127% |
| 4 | 0.012% | 0.0129% | 0.0139% |
| 5 | 0.014% | 0.0141% | 0.0153% |
| 6 | 0.015% | 0.0156% | 0.0169% |
| 7 | 0.017% | 0.0171% | 0.0187% |
| 8 | 0.018% | 0.0189% | 0.0202% |
| 9 | 0.020% | 0.0208% | 0.0217% |
| 10 | 0.022% | 0.0230% | 0.0233% |
Automatic lump sums
If you were in the Scheme before 1 April 2008, you will have an automatic lump sum included in your benefits which is sometimes referred to as the ‘retirement grant’. This is a lump sum that usually cannot be converted into an annual pension.
If this applies to you and you take late retirement, you may also receive increases to your retirement grant.
Getting a pension estimate
You won't be able to see late retirement increases on 'My Pension Online' and we don't include them on the Annual Benefit Statement.
Late retirement increases can be difficult to calculate so if you are close to retirement, we recommend you contact us directly for an estimate before you make a decision about taking your pension. We can supply you with up to 2 estimates in any rolling 12-month period.