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PLANNING TO RETIRE

 
Nowadays, comparatively few of us work to the age of 65. Many decide to retire earlier and as a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), this option is available.
 
Sometimes early retirement is a necessity rather than a choice perhaps because of redundancy or deteriorating health making it impossible for you to continue working. Your LGPS benefits, even in these circumstances, can provide you with an immediate retirement pension, which may even be enhanced.
 
Opinion varies as to just when is the best time to start planning for your retirement. Whether you are planning well in advance or you are about to retire, the earlier you take action the better.
 
The Fund produces packs of information for members to use in both planning for, and during, their retirement. They comprise; a guide to retirement, death grant and survivor nomination forms and a customer questionnaire, produced by the Fund, as well as two guides for pensioners, produced by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP).
 
If you are over 58, planning to retire, and would like some helpful literature, a pack can be obtained from your Pension Liaison Officer, who is normally based in either your Finance or Personnel department.
 

 
Income in Retirement
 
Here are some of the things you need to consider:
 
  • occupational pensions including your LGPS pension
  • investments
  • other earnings
There are many sources of information to help you make a decision about your retirement. While planning your retirement, you can contact the Fund about your LGPS pension and your employer's Personnel or Administration Officer can provide useful information to help you plan your retirement.
 
 
State Pension
 
You can claim your State Pension when you reach State Pension Age. The State Pension Age is currently 65 for men and 60 for women. However, in future the State Pension Age is changing.
 
For women it will rise gradually from age 60 to 65 from 2010 to 2020, making it equal to that of men. Find out your State Pension Age by entering your details in the State Pension Age Calculator from The Pension Service.
 
State Pension Forecasts tell you in today's money values, the amount of State Pension you may get based on your National Insurance contributions so far and the amount you may get when you claim it.
 
 
Tracing Pension Rights
 
It's easy to lose touch with your former pension schemes - if you have, don't worry.
The Pension Tracing Service can help, it holds details of almost 200,000 UK pension schemes and provides a tracing service free of charge.