Welcome to the section on membership and contributions. Here you will find information on how much it costs to participate in the scheme, options to improve your benefits, the impact of absences and working part-time, as well as the possibility of transferring pension rights from another scheme.
Please find below, answers to some common questions about membership and contributions.
How much does it cost?
How much it costs you depends on how much you are paid, but it will be between 5.5% and 12.5% of your pensionable pay.
Your rate will depend on which pay band you fall into (see the table under the next question).
The real cost to you will be less because, subject to overall limits, you do not pay tax on the amount you pay into your pension.
If you work part time or term time hours you will only pay contributions on your actual pay.
What is my contribution rate?
Your contribution rate depends on how much you are paid, but it will be between 5.5% and 12.5% of your pensionable pay. The rate you pay depends on which pay band you fall into.
If you work part-time or term time, your rate is based on the actual rate of pay for your job, so you only pay contributions on the pay you actually earn.
The 50/50 section contribution rate is applicable to those who have elected to pay reduced contributions on a temporary basis. To find out more go to our 50/50 section page.
These are the pay bands that apply from 1 April 2026:
|
Pay Band |
Yearly Pay | Main section contribution rate | 50/50 section contribution rate |
|
1 |
Up to £18,400 | 5.50% | 2.75% |
| 2 | £18,401 to £29,000 | 5.80% | 2.90% |
| 3 | £29,001 to £47,300 | 6.50% | 3.25% |
| 4 | £47,301 to £59,800 | 6.80% | 3.40% |
| 5 | £59,801 to £84,000 | 8.50% | 4.25% |
| 6 | £84,001 to £119,100 | 9.90% | 4.95% |
| 7 | £119,101 to £140,400 | 10.50% | 5.25% |
| 8 | £140,401 to £210,700 | 11.40% | 5.70% |
| 9 | £210,701 or more | 12.50% | 6.25% |
Note
The pay band ranges are increased each April in line with the cost of living.
Example
Alex works full time and his pensionable pay is £20,000 a year, this puts him in pay band 2 so he will pay 5.8% of £20,000.
This works out at £96 a month, but the real cost will be £77 after accounting for tax relief savings.
If he worked part time (half the hours) he would be in band 1 only pay 5.5% on his £10,000 pensionable pay.
How can I increase my pension?
Under the Scheme you have options for buying extra pension, as detailed below. Before April 2014, there were different ways to buy extra membership or pension. You may have one of these arrangements in place and this will be honoured. These previous options have now been closed and we can't accept any new applications.
Buying extra pension
If you are in the main section of the Scheme, you can buy more pension, right up to a maximum of £9,054 (2026/27 maximum).
The extra pension you buy will be paid the same way as your retirement pension, and must be paid at the same time as your main LGPS pension.
How much does it cost?
The cost to you will depend on a number of factors.
Here are some general examples:
Example 1
Kyle is 25 and wants to buy £1,000 additional yearly pension for himself.
He wants to pay the additional contributions he would have to make over 20 years.
The cost of buying £1,000 of additional yearly pension is £51.70 each month for the next 20 years (£12,408 in total).
Example 2
Marion is aged 47 and wants to buy £750 additional yearly pension for herself.
She wants to pay for this over 10 years.
The cost of buying £750 of additional yearly pension would be £98.78 each month for the next 10 years (£11,853.60 in total).
You can use the online calculator developed by the Local Government Association (LGA) to get an idea of how much the purchase of additional pension might cost you. This can be accessed via the following link:
LGA Additional Pension Calculator
Important
Your pension fund administering authority may require a satisfactory medical report to be submitted, at your cost, before your application is accepted. Where this is the case you will be notified of the process to be followed after submitting your application to pay additional pension contributions.
To find out more, please contact us
Paying Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)
You can also pay more towards your pension by paying additional voluntary contributions (AVCs). AVCs build up differently to the rest of your LGPS pension and there are no guarantees on the income they will provide. AVC contributions are invested by an AVC provider and can be affected by stock market fluctuations.
You choose how much to pay in AVCs and how they are invested. The money will come straight out of your pay and go to the AVC provider who will invest it for you.
What happens when I retire?
You can either use your AVCs to take a lump sum from the fund when you retire or you can buy additional income in retirement from an insurance provider (known as an annuity). You may also be able to use to buy additional pension in the Scheme. To find out more, contact us.
If you are interested in paying AVCs please contact us for further information about our AVC providers. Alternatively, you can visit the dedicated LGPS website to view more about your AVC options. You may wish to obtain independent financial advice before making any decision to pay AVCs.
Note
You get tax relief on extra contributions which lowers their real cost to you.
There are however, annual limits on the amount of tax relief you can receive on any extra contributions you pay. This is known as the 'annual allowance'. To find out more please visit the Gov.uk website or contact us.
What if I take a drop in pay?
If you joined the scheme before 1st April 2014 and your rate of pay reduces this may reduce the value of the final pay part of your pension benefits. Protections exist if your rate of pay within the ten years before you leave the LGPS, and with the same employer, is reduced or restricted because your post has been regraded or you have chosen to move to a post at a lower grade. If so, when you leave the pension scheme you can ask the pension fund to calculate your pension using the best average pay figure from a consecutive three-year period within the last 13 years. For more information please contact us.
For your service from 1st April 2014 onwards, your pension builds up annually on a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) basis and there are no pay protections if your rate of pay drops. If that occurs, you will build up pension annually on your new rate of pay. This doesn't detrimentally impact your pension prior to the fall in pay, as this will have built up under your previous grade.
For more information, visit the section How a CARE scheme works.
If your working hours change but your rate of pay remains the same, this will not impact on the pension that you have already built up. For more information please see “What if I work part time or term time?”
What if I work part time or term time?
You only pay contributions on the pay you actually earn.
Each April, your employer will decide your appropriate rate of contributions for each employment by matching your actual pensionable pay to the appropriate band in the contribution rates table.
Example
Kate works part time. She works half the hours of a full time colleague.
If she were a full time employee her pay would be £30,000 per year. As she only works half of this time her actual part time pay is £15,000 so she falls into pay band 1. This makes her contribution rate 5.5%.
See "How are my benefits worked out?" for more details about how your benefits are worked out when you retire if you work part time or term time.
What if I am absent from work?
There are many reasons why you might be absent from work. These can include:
- Family leave (maternity leave, paternity leave or adoption leave)
- Sick leave
- Reserve Forces leave
- Authorised leave of absence
- Absences Due to Trade Dispute (strike)
- Jury service
Find out how different types of absences affect your pension benefits.
Can I transfer benefits into my LGPS pension?
You may be able to transfer previous pension rights into the Scheme. If you want us to investigate a transfer, you should complete a transfer request or contact us. Please visit the Resources page to find the relevant form.
We will investigate whether you are able to transfer your benefits and provide you with an estimate of what the transfer payment would buy you in the Scheme. You can then decide if you want to go ahead with the transfer.
Typically, you will only have 12 months from joining the fund to elect to transfer a previous pension into the Scheme.
Deciding whether to transfer a previous pension is an important decision. You may wish to obtain independent financial advice before making any decision to transfer pension rights into the Scheme.
Can I combine previous LGPS pension pots?
If you re-join the LGPS, your previous LGPS benefits may be joined up with your new benefits automatically. We will write to you with any options you may have.
Can I reduce my contributions?
As an alternative to opting out, or at times when money is tight, there is an option to stay in the Scheme but pay a reduced contribution.
This is called the "50/50 option" and you can choose to do this at any time.
By selecting the 50/50 option, you only pay half the contributions you normally would pay. However, you only build up half of the pension during the period you pay the reduced 50/50 contribution.
For more information visit the "50/50" page under Paying In.