Receiving pension payments

You receive a pension from the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) because:

You used to pay LGPS contributions and have now started to take the pension, or
You are receiving a surviving partner’s pension, or
You are receiving a child’s pension

You normally receive your pension on the 28th of each month, or the Friday before if this is a weekend or Bank Holiday. We always pay December’s pension earlier because of Christmas.

If you have only just started receiving your pension, we have extra pension pay-dates throughout each month to make sure you get your first payment as soon as possible.

Pay slips

If your communications preference is post, you will only receive a pay slip if your take-home pension amount changes by £5 a month or more. Changes are most likely to happen each April and May when your pension gets its annual increase or if we receive a new tax code for you.

If your communications preference is Member Self-Service, you will be able to download a payslip every month from MSS.

Pension increases

We review your pension each April so that it increases in line with the cost of living. You can find information about any current increase to your pension here.

Changing bank or building society

Please remember to let us know if you change your bank or building society account so that we can continue to pay your pension to you. You can update your account details on Member Self-Service or you can complete a Change of Bank form.

Overseas payment

If you want us to pay your pension into an overseas bank account, please complete an overseas bank mandate form. Any overseas payments will depend on the exchange rates and you’ll receive them in the currency for that country.

Guaranteed Minimum Pension

If you were paying LGPS contributions between 6th April 1978 and 5th April 1997, you paid lower National Insurance contributions. This is because you did not pay towards the second part of the State pension during that time.

The LGPS guarantees to pay you a pension at least as high as the State pension you gave up. This is called the Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP).

Your pension is usually checked at ‘GMP age’, which is 60 for women and 65 for men. If you retire later than your GMP age, it will be checked then instead.

If your LGPS pension is higher than your GMP, then your pension payments will not change
If your GMP is higher than your LGPS pension, you will start to receive the higher amount of pension payments instead

In most cases, your LGPS pension is higher than your GMP.