To be entitled to LGPS retirement benefits, you have to have at least 2 years’ membership, transferred other pension rights into the Scheme, or already have a deferred benefit in the LGPS in England and Wales.
Your normal pension age is linked to your State Pension Age (with a minimum of age 65). Your normal pension age is the age from which you can retire and receive your pension in full.
You can check your normal pension age by looking up your current State Pension Age.
There are specific rules relating to each type of retirement and this section looks at the different retirement options, outlined below.
*The UK Government has announced that the earliest age you can take your pension will increase from age 55 to 57 with effect from 6 April 2028. This does not apply if you have to take your pension early due to ill health.
You could be protected from this increase if you joined the LGPS in England and Wales before 4 November 2021. You could also be protected if you transferred a previous pension into the LGPS if certain conditions are met. However, you will only be able to use this protection when you take your LGPS pension if the LGPS rules allow you to take your pension before age 57.
The UK Government makes the LGPS rules. It has not yet confirmed if it will allow members who qualify for protection to take their LGPS pension before age 57, from 6 April 2028.
There is a wide range of retirement options available as follows:
- Normal Retirement
- Early Retirement
- Late Retirement
- Ill Health Retirement
- Redundancy/Efficiency Retirement
- Flexible Retirement
For details of how your pension will be calculated and the different options available to you, please refer to the Calculating your Benefits page.
