Re-joining the Local Government Pension Scheme

As you have a deferred pension in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), if you start a new job in England or Wales where LGPS is the work pension and start to pay pension contributions again, you need to:

• Tell the Clwyd Pension Fund which LGPS Fund you have now joined
• Tell your new LGPS Fund that you have a deferred pension with the Clwyd Pension Fund
• Tell your new LGPS Fund if you have belonged to any other public service pension scheme (even if you received a refund of contributions for that service)

You need to do this so that you receive the correct options about combining your LGPS benefits.

If you have pension benefits in another LGPS Fund and less than 5 years have passed between you leaving Clwyd Pension Fund and joining the other LGPS Fund, you will be able to keep any final salary link, even if you choose to transfer it. In other words, your pension from the Clwyd Pension Fund will still be based on final salary scheme rules, despite the break in your service.

However, if more than 5 years have passed, the final salary link will be broken if you transfer, and the pension would be based on career average revalued earnings, or CARE.

You must combine any LGPS pensions within the first 12 months of you re-joining LGPS, unless your employer agrees to extend this deadline.

Re-joining LGPS after opting out

You may have a deferred pension with us because you opted out of paying LGPS contributions, but you continued to work for your employer.

You may be able to restart paying contributions if you still work for the same employer. You can speak to your employer’s payroll department or the Clwyd Pension Fund about opting back into paying pension contributions. If you do choose to pay contributions again, it is likely that you won’t be able to combine your deferred pension with the new pension. This just means that you will have two separate pensions with the Clwyd Pension Fund.