About the LGPS

LGPS background

With 4.6 million members, the Local Government Pension Scheme is one of the largest public sector pension schemes in the UK. It is a nationwide pension scheme for people working in local government or working for other types of employer participating in the Scheme.

Employers in the Scheme include local authorities and public service organisations as well as other employers which provide the LGPS for their employees by becoming admitted bodies.

The Scheme is administered for participating employers locally through 99 regional pension funds. Find your pension fund administrator.

LGPS rules

The rules are contained in regulations made by Parliament after consultation with both employee representatives (Trade Unions) and employer representatives. The rules comply with the relevant provisions of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2004.

The LGPS provides salary-related, defined benefits, which are not dependent upon investment performance.  As it is a statutory funded pension scheme, it is a secure pension arrangement with rules set out in legislation made under an Act of Parliament (the Superannuation Act 1972).

The LGPS is now a registered public service scheme under Chapter 2 of Part 4 of the Finance Act 2004. It has achieved automatic registration by virtue of Part 1 of Schedule 36 of that Act (because the LGPS was, immediately before 6 April 2006, both a retirement benefits scheme approved under Chapter I of Part XIV of the Income and Corporation taxes Act 1988 and a relevant statutory scheme under section 611A of that Act). The LGPS is contracted out of the State Second Pension (S2P) because it provides benefits that are as good as most members would receive if they had been in the S2P.

LGPS responsibilities

Decisions

The regulations give specific responsibilities to scheme employers and pension fund administrators, each of whom must make decisions in relation to some matters and can exercise their discretion in relation to others.

Many pension fund administrators set up a Pension Committee to oversee their pension scheme responsibilities, which then act in a similar role to trustees of other pension schemes.

Contact your local pension fund administrator for more specific information.

Funding

Both employees and employers contribute to the LGPS: employees' contributions are fixed, while employers' contributions vary depending on how much is needed to ensure benefits under the Scheme are properly funded.

The Fund Actuary sets each employer's contribution rate as part of the actuarial valuation of each fund's assets and liabilities, which takes place every three years.