Transferring your LGPS pension

If you have left the LGPS and you join another pension scheme, you may be able to transfer your LGPS benefits to the new scheme.

 

Transferring your pension is not an easy decision to make. You will need to compare the two schemes carefully to be certain you make the right choice. You may wish to get help from a specialist adviser. In some cases you will have to seek independent financial advice before you can transfer.

 

Criminals may try and convince you to hand over your pension by transferring it to a scam pension scheme. You can protect yourself by finding out about how to spot a Pension scam.

 

In this section we look at the basic rules that apply to pension transfers out of the LGPS.

 

If you have bought extra LGPS pension for yourself or for a dependant, the value of that extra pension will be included in any transfer payment. You may have bought extra pension by paying Additional Pension Contributions, Additional Regular Contributions, purchasing added years or pre 1988 membership for a cohabiting partner’s pension.

 

If you have paid Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs), you do not have to transfer these if you transfer your main LGPS benefits to another pension scheme.

 

 

 

If you complete a full pension transfer, you will not be entitled to any benefits from the LGPS. No death grant or dependants’ pensions will be paid by the LGPS when you die.

 

You can only transfer your LGPS pension if you have stopped paying into the Scheme.

 

You cannot transfer an LGPS pension if you have already taken a pension from the LGPS. If you have an LGPS pension in payment you cannot transfer any deferred benefits out of the LGPS.

 

If you hold more than one set of deferred benefits in the LGPS in England and Wales, you can transfer all or none of those benefits. You cannot transfer one deferred benefit to a different scheme and keep another deferred benefit in the LGPS.