Taking your pension

You can take your LGPS pension at any time from age 55 to 75, as long as you have met the two-year vesting period. You must take your pension by age 75. If your employer agrees, you can even take your pension without leaving your job – this is called flexible retirement.

The Government has announced the earliest age that you can take your pension will increase from age 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028. This will not apply to ill health retirements. Special rules apply if you have to retire because of ill health.

Normal Pension Age

Your benefits are paid in full if you choose to take them from your Normal Pension Age. For benefits built up from April 2014, your Normal Pension Age is linked to your State Pension age, but is at least age 65.

The Normal Pension Age for benefits built up in the LGPS before 1 April 2014 is protected. For most people, the protected Normal Pension Age for these benefits is 65.

If you were a member of the LGPS at any time between 1 April 1998 and 30 September 2006, some or all of your benefits could be paid in full before age 65 if you are protected by the 85-year rule.

If you choose to take your pension before your Normal Pension Age, it will normally be reduced because it is being paid earlier. The earlier you take your pension, the bigger the reduction will be. You can find out more in the Early retirement reductions section below.

Your employer may decide not to apply all or part of any reduction. You can ask them what their policy on this is.

If you take your pension after your Normal Pension Age, it will be increased. The increase is based on the number of days from your Normal Pension Age to the date you take your pension.

You cannot take your benefits built up before 1 April 2014 separately from the benefits you built up from 1 April 2014. Once you have left your job and choose to take your pension, you must take your whole LGPS pension at the same time. Different rules apply if you take flexible retirement.

Your options

Voluntary retirement

You can choose to take your pension when:

you are age 55 or over
you have met the two-year vesting period, and
you have left your job.

Flexible retirement

Flexible retirement is a way to move gradually into retirement. You can take flexible retirement:

from age 55 onwards
if you have met the two-year vesting period, and
only if your employer agrees.

Under flexible retirement, you reduce your hours or move to a less senior position and take some or all of the pension benefits you have built up. You must take any benefits you built up before 1 April 2008.

You can ask your employer about their policy on flexible retirement.

The Government has announced the earliest age that you can take your pension will increase from age 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028. This will not apply to ill health retirements.

Redundancy or business efficiency

If you:

lose your job because of redundancy or business efficiency
have met the two-year vesting period, and
are age 55 or over

your LGPS benefits must be paid to you immediately.

If you leave after your Normal Pension Age, your benefits will be increased.

If you are under your Normal Pension Age, your main LGPS benefits will not be reduced for early payment. However, if you have bought any additional pension, this will be reduced because of early payment. This applies to any additional pension paid for by:

Additional Pension Contributions (APCs)
Shared Cost Additional Pension Contributions (SCAPCs), or
Additional Regular Contributions (ARCs).

The Government has announced the earliest age that you can take your pension will increase from age 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028.

Early retirement reductions

If you choose to take your pension benefits before your Normal Pension Age, they will normally be reduced. First, your benefits are calculated as usual, and then reduced. You can find out more about How your pension is worked out.

The reduction is based on the period between the date your benefits are paid and your Normal Pension Age. The earlier you take your pension, the bigger the reduction.

The current reductions for taking your benefits up to 13 years early are shown in the table below. If the number of years is not exact, the reductions will be adjusted.

The Government changed the reductions on 3 July 2023. The reductions shown below apply to retirements from that date.

Years Early	Pension	Lump Sum (for membership up to 31 March 2008)
1	4.9%	1.7%
2	9.3%	3.3%
3	13.5%	4.9%
4	17.4%	6.5%
5	20.9%	8.1%
6	24.3%	9.6%
7	27.4%	11.1%
8	30.3%	12.6%
9	33.0%	14.1%
10	35.6%	15.5%
11	39.5%	n/a
12	41.8%	n/a
13	43.9%	n/a

Your employer can agree not to reduce your LGPS benefits. This is a discretion and you can ask them what their policy on this is. You can reduce or avoid any reductions by taking your pension later. Your benefits are normally payable from your Normal Pension Age. You can delay payment beyond your Normal Pension Age, but only if you left the Scheme after 31 March 1998. You must take your pension by age 75.

The underpin – an additional protection

You are protected by the underpin if you:

built up pension benefits in the LGPS or another public service pension scheme before 1 April 2012
were a member of the LGPS in the remedy period – between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2022
were under age 65 during the remedy period, and
did not have a disqualifying gap. A disqualifying gap is a period of more than five years when you were not paying into the LGPS or any other public service pension scheme.

If you are protected, Merseyside Pension Fund will check your pension against the pension you would have built up in the final salary scheme in the remedy period. Your pension will be increased if it is lower.

The underpin removes the discrimination found in the McCloud court case. You can find out more about how your pension might be affected by the underpin in the McCloud remedy section of this site.

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