Retirement

From your state pension age you can fully retire and receive your pension benefits with no reductions. 

If you were a contributing member of the LGPS on 1 June 2018, you can retire with your pension from the age of 55, without requiring the Council’s agreement. You should be aware though that your pension and lump sum may be reduced if you retire before your normal pension age.  

You’ll be able to find information about your retirement benefits on the Strathclyde Pension Fund’s online portal – have you signed up for this yet? You can either log on if you’ve registered already or you can sign up for access to this service.

This is a much quicker way to receive an estimate than asking HR to get one for you. 

Once you’ve logged on to the portal, you should select: View My Pension Benefits – Benefit Projectors – Voluntary Retirement. If you go down the page to Conversion Options, it allows you to adjust your leaving date and there’s also a sliding scale to increase your pension/lump sum. SPFO need 3 months’ notice to enable them to process your pension so you’ll need to remember this when choosing your retirement date. 

If you have any queries, then you should email pensions using their Submit an enquiry – Strathclyde Pension Fund  

If you are planning to retire and leave the Council’s employment, you can request the appropriate forms by contacting the HROD Helpdesk.  Please submit a ticket using the HROD Enquiry Form , select Retirement as the category. 

Alternatively, you can download the appropriate form S5/S10 and HMRC Declaration Form and complete: 

• Part 1 MEMBER’S DETAILS only of S5/S10 – you need to give 3 months’ notice to enable SPFO to process your pension.  
• Send the forms to the HROD Helpdesk as linked above.  HR will complete the employer’s part of the form and send to Pensions for pay details pensionenquiries@argyll-bute.gov.uk.  The Pensions Team will email you when they have completed the form and sent them to SPFO for processing.   
• Write to your line manager advising them of your retirement and the date you intend to retire.  If you are a 5 day a week worker, please make your retirement date the Sunday of that week.  

Strathclyde Pension Fund will email you when they have calculated final pension benefits and instruct you to log in to your SPFOnline account and go to Documents and uploads>Files sent to me.  You will find there your retirement information and calculation summaries. The Commutation Election form allows you, if you wish, to elect to give up pension for an increased lump sum.  You will need to complete the HMRC and Commutation Election forms which should be completed as quickly as possible and returned to SPFO via SPFOnline.   

Financial Advisers  

A list of financial advisers can be found on the website www.unbiased.co.uk.  

Independent financial advice from an independent adviser who is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can check if an adviser is authorised by the FCA using the Financial Services Register on the FCA website – https://register.fca.org.uk/ .  

If you are thinking about retiring before your normal pension age, this section will help you understand the options that may be available to you. It explains when you may be able to take your LGPS pension early, what this could mean for your pension benefits, and why it is important to check whether any reductions will apply before you decide. You should use this information alongside your own pension estimate from Strathclyde Pension Fund so that you can consider the financial impact of retiring early.

• Retirement options for LGPS
• Early retirement reductions

Flexible retirement may be an option if you want to start taking your LGPS pension while continuing to work for the Council in a reduced capacity. This could mean reducing your hours or moving to a lower graded post, but it must be agreed by the Council before it can go ahead. This section explains what flexible retirement is, what you need to consider before applying, and what your manager will need to do as part of the process. It is important to remember that your pension and any lump sum may be reduced if you take flexible retirement before your normal pension age.

Flexible retirement: Take pension and continue working with reduced hours or move to a lower graded (employer approval required).  Your pension and lump sum, if applicable, are usually reduced. 

• Flexible retirement procedure
• Guidance for Managers on LGPS Flexible Retirement

If you want to build up extra pension savings before you retire, this section will help you understand the options that may be available through the LGPS. You can find information about Additional Voluntary Contributions and other ways to increase your retirement benefits. Before making any decisions, you should read the guidance carefully and consider whether you need independent financial advice, as the best option will depend on your own circumstances and retirement plans.

• Additional Voluntary Contributions
• AVC terms and conditions
• My Money Matters – ISCAVC

This section gives you general information about the Local Government Pension Scheme and how it applies to you as an employee. You can use it to check contribution rates, find out more about joining the scheme, understand key scheme changes and access information about your right of appeal. This is a useful starting point if you want to understand how the scheme works before looking at more specific retirement options.

• LGPS Scotland contribution rates
• Thinking of joining?
• Right of Appeal / IDRP
• Increase to Normal Minimum Pension Age from 6 April 2028
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Online portal – Strathclyde Pension Fund

LGPS Scotland Contribution Rates 

The contribution rates and pay bands are regularly reviewed and may change in the future.   

You can use the  Contributions calculator to see what contributions you pay based on your pay.  You can use the calculator to see how your contributions are affected by your pay, tax relief and what section of the Scheme you are in. 

If you were a member of the LGPS at any time between 1 April 1998 and 30 November 2006, you may be protected under the 85-year rule.

You satisfy the 85-year rule when your age and length of LGPS membership add up to 85. Your age and Scheme membership are both measured in full years for this purpose. If you work part time, your membership counts towards the 85-year rule at its full calendar length.

The 85-year rule will apply if you are over age 60 when you retire. If you fully retire between age 55 and 60, the 85-year rule will not automatically apply and your benefits will be reduced. Your employer can choose to allow the 85-year rule to apply. This is a discretion. You can ask your employer about their policy on this.

If you take flexible retirement, the 85-year rule will apply to the benefits you have built up to the date you first take flexible retirement, even if you are under 60. The 85-year rule will not protect any benefits you build up after you first take flexible retirement.

What the 85-year rule means for you depends on your age, the date you meet the 85-year rule and the date you take your LGPS benefits. If you are protected:

• and you take your benefits after you satisfy the 85-year rule, some or all of your benefits will be paid without reduction
• and you take your benefits before you satisfy the 85-year rule, your benefits will be reduced but the early payment reduction will be lower than the normal reduction that applies to a member who is not protected.

The rules governing how the 85-year rule works and the level of protection you will get are complex. If you are thinking of retiring, you should Contact your pension fund for an estimate of the benefits you will be entitled to. If you are thinking about flexible retirement, you should contact your employer to check their policies on flexible retirement.