Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

New look Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

This page contains information about the New Look Local Government Pension Scheme which comes in effect on 1 April 2008 for Haringey Council employees and ex-employees.

• Pensions Newsletter April 2008 (PDF, 73Kb)
• What is the Local Government Pension Scheme?
• Contribution rates
• Policy statements and reports
• How to find out more

New Look Local Government Pensions Scheme film.

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What is the LGPS?

The LGPS is a valuable part of the pay and reward package for employees working in local government or working for other employers participating in the scheme, and for some councillors.

Membership is normally automatic for most employees under age 75, employed on a contract for three months or more. Check your pay slip to see if you are paying in and if not, contact the Pensions Team to see if you can join.

What the LGPS offers:

• The LGPS is a Final Salary Pension Scheme providing a secure pension, payable for life.
• Your employer pays whatever amount is necessary to ensure that your benefits are properly funded. On average this is 2/3rds of the cost.

Membership and Cost:

• Automatic membership for all employees contracted for three months or more. Opt out election allowed.
• Banded contributions based on whole-time rates of pay, see the contribution rates table below. Most people enjoy tax efficient savings and lower national insurance contributions while contributing to the LGPS. Read the online guide on the LGPS website for more information (see the external links section below).

Retirement Benefits:

• Pension build up based on 1/60th of pay for each year of membership after 1 April 2008. Pre 1 April 2008 membership continues to provide benefits of 1/80th pension and 3/80ths lump sum.
• Option to convert part of your pension to a tax-free cash lump sum payment on your retirement
• Normal retirement age 65.
• Ill-health retirement based on three tiers related to the member’s capability to undertake gainful employment before age 65.
• Minimum early retirement age is 55 for new employees from 1 April 2008, and for all employees by 30 March 2010 (see your Employer’s Discretionary Policy Statement for more details).

Life Cover and Survivor Benefits:

• Death in Service Lump Sum of three times pay.
• Death on pension guarantee of ten year’s pension payments.
• Death Grant for a deferred pensioner of five year’s pension payments.
• Survivor pensions for spouses, civil registration partners and nominated cohabiting partners.

Optional Extras:

• Active members will be able to buy extra pension in multiples of £250 up to a maximum of £5000.
• In-house Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) scheme.

Contribution Rates:

Contribution rates are changing from a flat 6% rate to a banded rate as shown below:

For part-timers, the whole-time rate of salary is used to work out which band applies but contributions are only paid on part-time earnings, eg:

Duane is a part-time Charge Hand on Grade 9 working 18/36 hrs per week. The whole-time pay is £16,749 which is Band 3. His contribution rate is 5.9% but this rate will only apply to his actual part-time earnings.

• Where an employee has more than one job, the contribution band is applied to each employment separately.
• Manual graded employees with a 5% protected rate will be moved to the new rates in 3 annual stages until April 2011.
• Full-time term-time employees will pay contributions on the band appropriate to their Annual Pensionable Pay. Part-time term-time employees will pay contributions in the band equivalent to the whole-time term-time rate but contributions are only paid on part-time earnings.

Nothing stated above can override the Local Government Pension Scheme regulations. In any dispute the regulations will prevail.

Policy Statements and Reports

Policy statements and reports can be found in the attached files section below.

How to find out more:

For more information please contact the Pensions Team, or visit the LGPS online guide (see the external links section below).

Haringey Council staff can log on to Harinet, the Council’s intranet: click Personnel > Pensions, Pay and Conditions > Pensions

Tel The Pensions Team on 020 8489 5916
Email Pensions.mailbox@haringey.gov.uk
Web www.lgps.org.uk (see the external links section below)

Attached Files

Filename	Filetype	Size
employers discretionary policy statement.doc	Word	62K
communications policy.doc	PDF	48K
funding strategy statement.doc	Word	139K
governance compliance statement 08.doc	Word	116K
statement of investment principles 2007 - 2008.doc	Word	184K
pensions annual report.pdf	PDF	93K
pensions valuation report.pdf	PDF	203K
appeals procedure.doc	Word	582K
PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat reader. Please click here to download.

Useful External Links

The following links are not part of the Haringey Council website. Please read our legal disclaimer before using these links

• LGPS - Online guide Local Government Pensions Scheme
• LGPS - frequently asked questions
• LGPS - Cost of membership
• Department of Communities and Local Governments - new look pension scheme

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