Although the normal retirement age for all members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is 65, you may not wish to work to this age. You may decide to retire earlier and as a member of the LGPS, this option is available to you.

Sometimes it is a necessity rather than a choice to retire early because of deteriorating health or redundancy. In these circumstances, your LGPS benefits can provide you with an immediate retirement pension, which could even be enhanced.

Retirement options

• Retirement at my own request
• Flexible retirement
• Early retirement due to redundancy or efficiency
• Retirement through ill health
• Late retirement

For details of how your pension will be calculated and the different options available to you, please refer to the Scheme benefits page.

New pension tax simplification rules

From the 6th April 2006, HM Revenue and Customs introduced new simplified rules around how pensions are taxed. These rules introduced a lifetime allowance which is the total capital value of all your pension arrangements, but not your state pension, which you can build up without paying extra tax. Members with pensions payable from the 6th April 2006, are required to declare all occupational and personal pension entitlement (except state, survivor’s or dependant’s pensions) before their pension can be paid.