Career average pay

This is used to calculate LGPS benefits for councillors.

It is the average of your revalued pay over your period of LGPS membership.

How is it calculated?

Your pay (i.e. pensionable allowances) for each year or part year ending 31 March is adjusted (other than the pay in the final year commencing 1 April) by the change in the Retail Price Index between the end of that year and the last day of the month in which your membership of the scheme ends. The total of your revalued pay is then divided by your period of membership to calculate your career average pay. This is the figure used to calculate your pension benefits.

Example

Assume that a councillor has been in the scheme for 3 years, from 1 May 2003 to 30 April 2006. The average pay calculation would be calculated as follows:

Pay from 1 May 2003 to 31 March 2004:

£8,250 plus inflation from 1 April 2004 to 30 April 2006                         = £8,781

Pay from 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005:

£9,300 plus inflation from 1 April 2005 to 30 April 2006                         = £9,592

Pay from 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006:

£9,500 plus inflation from 1 April 2006 to 30 April 2006                          = £9,573

Pay from 1 April 2006 to 30 April 2006:

£800                                                                                                 = £   800

Career average pay = £8,781 + £9,592 + £9,573 + £800 divided by 3 = £9,582