Calculating your Pension

The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is a defined benefit scheme which means that your pension is calculated using formulas which are set out in Government regulations. The formulas used to calculate your pension depend on when you were a member of the scheme.

Final Salary Scheme

Prior to 31st March 2014 the scheme was a Final Salary scheme where your pension benefits were calculated based on four different elements:

Length of pensionable service in years and days (1 years full time = 1 years service, whereas 1 years part time working 18.50/37.00 hours = 6 months service)
Your Full Time Equivalent Pensionable Pay
Rate of accrual dependent upon when you were a member (1/60th or 1/80th)
Circumstances under which you left your post (early, late, flexible, ill health)

CARE Scheme

Following 1st April 2014 the scheme changed to a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme.

This means that as a member you build up a fraction of your 'Career Average Earnings' for each year of membership of the scheme, which are 'Revalued' in line with inflation (Consumer Price Index) on an annual basis.

The accrual rate for the CARE scheme is 1/49th, meaning that a member builds annual pension each financial year at the rate of 1/49th of your annual actual pensionable pay (pay that you pay contributions on).

This accrued annual pension is added to any pension that had previously been accrued since 1st April 2014 and inflated in line with the Consumer Price Index. This amount is then forwarded as the opening balance for the following year, and the process is repeated until you leave the scheme or retire.