There may be times when you need to take time away from work during your career. Special rules exist to protect your LGPS pension if you are on paid leave due to illness, becoming a parent (‘child-related leave’) or returning from military service (‘reserve forces leave’).
It’s possible to pay extra to make up for pension ‘lost’ during other types of unpaid absence, for example:
- Unpaid leave agreed by your employer
- Unpaid extra child-related leave; or
- Industrial action (strike).
If you don’t pay contributions for a period while you’re away, you won’t build up any pension during that time. However, you can buy back this ‘lost’ pension by paying for additional pension contributions (APCs).
For more details, contact your employer or visit the LGPS APC modeller.
There may be times when you need to take time away from work during your career. Special rules exist to protect your LGPS pension if you are on paid leave due to illness, becoming a parent (‘child-related leave’) or returning from military service (‘reserve forces leave’).
It’s possible to pay extra to make up for pension ‘lost’ during other types of unpaid absence, for example:
- Unpaid leave agreed by your employer
- Unpaid extra child-related leave; or
- Industrial action (strike).
If you don’t pay contributions for a period while you’re away, you won’t build up any pension during that time. However, you can buy back this ‘lost’ pension by paying for additional pension contributions (APCs).
For more details, contact your employer or visit the LGPS APC modeller.
You can pay more to top up your pension.
You can buy extra LGPS pension by paying additional pension contribution (APCs). You can pay APCs regularly, over a period of time, or as a one-off lump sum.
The amount you pay depends on:
- how much extra pension you want to buy
- your age when you start paying the extra contributions; and
- how long you want to pay them for.
There’s an upper limit on the additional pension you can buy that goes up each year in line with the cost of living. Use the LGPS APC modeller to get a quote for buying extra pension and find what’s right for you.
You can also pay additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) through Aegon. By paying AVCs, you will build up a pot of money which is used to provide benefits on top of your LGPS benefits.
APCs and AVCs come out of your pay before tax, and you receive tax relief automatically.
You can also pay extra outside of the LGPS to increase your retirement income.
It’s worth checking how paying in more may affect your Annual Allowance position on the HM Revenue and Customs calculator.
Find out more here. [Link to https://www.lgpsmember.org/your-pension/paying-in/paying-more/]
Visit the Contact details page if you have any questions.