Leaving before retirement

As long as you have at least 3 months membership, you will have built up valuable Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) benefits that form an important part of your savings for retirement.

On leaving, you have two options:

1. You can choose to keep your benefits in the LGPS - these are known as deferred benefits and will increase every year in line with the cost of living.
2. Alternatively, you may be able to transfer your deferred benefits to a new pension arrangement.

If you have less than 3 months membership and you have not transferred in any other pension rights and have not previously transferred LGPS benefits to an overseas scheme, you do not qualify for deferred benefits. You have three options:

1. You can claim a refund of your contributions
2. You may be able to transfer your benefits to a new pension arrangement
3. You can delay your decision until you know what you’d like to do - this is known as a frozen refund