The Pensions Regulator website has a great deal of information about pension scams and what to watch out for to help you avoid getting caught out.

The LGPS is a ‘defined benefit scheme’ which means your pension benefits are based on your pay and your length of membership in the scheme- see the question ‘How are my pension benefits calculated?’ The LGPS is not like a personal pension or money purchase scheme where you build up a pot of money and then use the money to buy a pension (annuity) at retirement. The contributions that you and your employer pay each month are invested by the pension fund and are then used to pay the pension benefits of all our pensioners. Your Annual Benefit Statement shows the value of the pension benefits you have built up each year. You can view your statement on your Online Record. If you haven’t already registered for online access details of how to do so can be found here.

Your online pension record will show the date you started your latest employment. However, all of your membership will be used to calculate your pension benefits.

The LGPS is a defined benefit scheme with your pension benefits based on your pay and your length of membership in the scheme. The LGPS is backed by government making it one of the safest pension schemes available. The contributions you and your employer pay each month are invested by the pension fund and are then used to pay the pension benefits of all our pensioners. Remember, the estimated annual pension that is shown on your Annual Benefit Statement is payable for life. So, for example, if you live for 20 years after retirement you will have received much more pension than the amount of contributions you paid in.

If you change your weekly hours or term-time weeks of employment the pension benefits that you build up will be affected as they are calculated using the actual pensionable pay that you receive each year. If your actual pensionable pay reduces because you are working less hours or a reduced number of weeks then the pension that you build up is lower.

If you joined the LGPS before 1 April 2014 your benefits for membership before 1 April 2014 were built up in the final salary scheme. These benefits are based on your service and full time equivalent pay so are not affected by a change in hours that happens after 1 April 2014.

A change to your pay affects your benefits in different ways depending on whether you have a mixture of final salary and career average or just career average benefits.
In the career average scheme, if your actual pensionable pay reduces because you are working less hours, contractual weeks or your rate of pay drops then the pension you build up will be lower.
If you have benefits built up before 1 April 2014 in the final salary scheme these are still linked to your whole time equivalent final pensionable pay. If your rate of pay has dropped in the last 3 years of your employment your pre 1 April 2014 benefits can be worked out using the best of the last 3 years. If you are close to leaving or retiring when your pay is reduced this option will be enough to protect your benefits. If your pay has dropped in the last 10 years of your employment and it’s not the result of a temporary post ending or flexible retirement, you can choose to use the best 3 year average. The average is based on 3 consecutive years in the last 13 years ending on 31 March. Inflation proofing would then be added to the benefits.

The calculation of your benefits depends on when you joined the scheme.
If you joined after 1 April 2014 all of your pension is in the career average pension scheme. Every year you pay contributions based on your pay for that year and you build up 1/49th of that pay in pension benefits. So for example if your pay for the year was £34,300.00 the £34,300.00 would be divided by 49 and £700.00 would be added to your pension account for that year. For every year that you are in the scheme an amount will be added to your pension account. Each April your pension account receives a cost of living increase (based on the previous September’s consumer prices index).
If you joined before 1 April 2014 your benefits were built up in the final salary scheme and are calculated using your membership built up to 31 March 2014 and your final year’s whole time equivalent pensionable pay. For membership before 1 April 2008 your benefits are based on 1/80th of your final pay and membership from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2014.

You will have a separate pension account for each job. Your pension benefits for that account will be calculated on the pensionable pay you receive for that job. You will also have a separate Online Record for each job so you will need to add the figures together from each record to work out your total pension benefits. 1/60th of your final pay.

In the career average scheme every scheme year (1 April to 31 March) you build up a pension of 1/49 of your actual pensionable pay (or 1/98 if you have chosen to pay lower contributions in the 50/50 scheme). In your final year you will build up an amount of pension based on your pay from 1 April to the date of retirement that will be added to your account. Pensionable pay in the career average scheme includes non-contractual overtime and additional hours.
Final salary benefits (built up before 1 April 2014) will be calculated on the whole time equivalent final pensionable pay which, for most members, will be the last 365 days pay on which contributions have been paid. Pay in the final salary scheme does not include non-contractual overtime or additional hours.

You should talk to your employer about your options. Your employer can retire you on ill health grounds at any age as long as you have 2 years qualifying service of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Your employer must be satisfied that you are permanently unable to do your own job and that you have no immediate capacity for gainful employment (paid employment of at least 30 hours a week for at least 12 months). To help your employer make this decision you will be referred to an independent doctor to assess your case. Following the medical assessment your employer will confirm if you meet the ill health criteria and if so, which Tier of benefits you should receive. Further information on the Tiers of ill health benefits can be found in the scheme guides and on the LGPS website.
If you have been awarded ill health retirement your employer will tell the North Yorkshire Pension Fund (NYPF) so they can pay your pension benefits. As the decision to award ill health benefits is an employer decision the NYPF cannot provide an estimate of benefits on an ill health basis.

We can provide an estimate if you intend to voluntarily retire within the next 12 months (we cannot provide estimates for redundancy, ill health or flexible retirement as these are only permitted with your employer’s consent. We are not able to predict what your future pension benefits will be beyond this as the inflationary increases used to calculate your career average pension benefits are unknown.
You can however, do your own pension estimates on your Online Record where you can change your pensionable pay and inflation. These figures are an estimate only and are never guaranteed. You can do as many estimates as you like with a retirement age between 55 and 75, assuming that you continue to work in your current post up to the age that you choose. Where reductions for early payment apply, these will be shown on the calculations. You will be able to compare how your pension benefits increase if you stay in your post for longer and continue to contribute to the LGPS.

You can choose to retire any time from age 55 to age 75. If you choose to take your benefits before your normal pension age your pension will normally be reduced to take account of the fact that your benefits will be paid for longer. The only time these reductions will not apply is if you are made redundant, retire on the grounds of the efficiency of the service or ill health or you were a member before 1 October 2006 and you have some protection from the reductions under the 85 year rule.

The reduction to your annual pension is approximately 5% for every year early that you choose to take your benefits. The closer to your normal pension age you are when you take your benefits the smaller the reduction. If you were in the scheme before 1 April 2008 and have an automatic tax free lump sum a separate reduction factor applies to the lump sum. The reduction factors can be found here.

To take your pension benefits from the LGPS you need to have finished your current employment and not have a new employment already in place at the date of retirement. If, after you have taken your pension benefits, you wish to apply for another job in Local Government, you can do this with no effect on your pension.
You could also consider flexible retirement. This allows you to access your pension benefits whilst continuing to work, allowing a gradual move into retirement. There are certain criteria that have to be met for flexible retirement and it is at your employer’s discretion. Further information on flexible retirement can be found here.

If you die whilst still paying into the scheme we will pay a lump sum of three times your pay at your date of death. If you also have other separate LGPS membership, there may only be one lump sum payable if you die. You can let us know who you would like the lump sum death benefit paying to be completing a nomination form.
In addition a survivor’s pension is provided for your spouse, registered civil partner or subject to qualifying conditions your eligible cohabiting partner. A pension may also be payable to your dependent children depending on their age.
Further information on death benefits is available under the ‘Member Info section’ of the website.

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This option allows you to pay half your pension contributions and build up half your normal pension whilst keeping the full value of other scheme benefits such as death in service lump sum and ill health cover. 50/50 allows flexibility in times of financial hardship and is intended to be a short-term measure for when times are tough. Further information can be found here.

Log in to your Online record to update your own address or complete the change of details Form.

Complete the Change of personal details form and email it to pensions@northyorks.gov.uk along with scanned copies of the relevant certificates.
Or simply send us an email with your new details (please refer to the Change of personal details form for the information that we need) along with scanned copies of the relevant certificates. Alternatively, you can write to us with your new details.

Benefit statements are likely to be distributed to the majority of Scheme members on an annual basis in or around September each year. You can also run your own quotes on 'My Pension Online'

Most of the information you need will be on your Annual Benefit Statement. If you have not viewed this yet, please see here for instructions on how to access it. Information on how your pension benefits will be calculated from 1 April 2014 can be viewed here.

You can pay Additional Voluntary Contributions and/or Additional Pension Contributions

If your AVC has been arranged via the NYPF as an 'In house' AVC arrangement you should contact the Prudential.

Log in to 'My Pension Online' or contact the Pensions Team on 01609 536335

Please contact the Employment Support Service.

All changes to bank accounts must be notified in writing to ESS. Alternatively you can register for access to MyView where you can update your account details.

Please contact the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

Please contact the Pension Service

If you have less than two years total membership and have not brought a transfer value into the LGPS you can take a refund of your contributions less any deductions for tax and the cost of buying you back into the State Second Pension Scheme (S2P).

Contact your local tax office.

Please read the guides and opting out form on the 'New Starters' page

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If you have previously opted-out of the pension scheme and would now like to rejoin (opt in), please contact your payroll section and advise them that you would like to opt back into the pension scheme. They will restart your pension contributions and advise us that you have re-joined.