Local Government Pension Scheme

The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is the defined benefit pension for council staff and school support staff in England and Wales. From April 2026 members pay between 5.5 per cent and 12.5 per cent of their pay, set by nine pay bands, or half that in the 50/50 section. The pension is career average, rises with inflation, and is guaranteed by law whatever the fund’s investments do.

Who is in the LGPS

Most people who work for a council in England and Wales are in it, along with support staff in maintained schools and academies: teaching assistants, office staff, cleaners, cooks and site staff. Police staff (but not police officers), some fire service staff, staff at certain colleges and universities, and workers at some contractors that took over council services can also be members.

Teachers have the Teachers’ Pension Scheme instead. Scotland and Northern Ireland each run their own version of the LGPS with different rates.

The NHS, teachers’ and Civil Service schemes are unfunded. The LGPS is funded. Contributions go into a local pension fund, usually run by a county or metropolitan council or a pooled regional arrangement, and the fund invests them. Your pension does not depend on how the investments do, because employers pay more if the fund falls short.

Contribution bands for 2026

Your employer puts you in a band every April based on your pay, and moves you if your pay changes significantly during the year. The rate for your band applies to all of your pay.

Pay	Main section	50/50 section
Up to £18,400	5.5%	2.75%
£18,401 to £29,000	5.8%	2.9%
£29,001 to £47,300	6.5%	3.25%
£47,301 to £59,800	6.8%	3.4%
£59,801 to £84,000	8.5%	4.25%
£84,001 to £119,100	9.9%	4.95%
£119,101 to £140,400	10.5%	5.25%
£140,401 to £210,700	11.4%	5.7%
£210,701 and above	12.5%	6.25%

Take someone on SCP 10 of the NJC pay spine, £28,608 full-time. They pay 5.8 per cent in the main section, which is £1,659.26 a year. In the 50/50 section the cost would be £829.63. A full-time officer on SCP 25, £37,563, pays 6.5 per cent: £2,441.60 a year in the main section.

Banding follows what you are actually paid. Part-time and term-time staff are banded on their real pay, which is usually lower than the full-time figure in the job advert. The part-time pensions guide has a worked example for a term-time teaching assistant.

Contributions come off before Income Tax, so you get relief at your highest rate automatically. National Insurance is still charged on your full pay.

How the 50/50 section works

In the 50/50 section you pay half the normal contribution and build up half the pension for the time you are in it. Your employer still pays its full contribution. Life cover and ill-health cover stay at the full level, so if you died or had to retire through illness while in 50/50, the benefits would be worked out as if you were in the main section.

People tend to use it when money is tight for a while, with high childcare costs for example, or while paying off a debt. You can move back to the main section whenever you ask. If you are still in 50/50 at your employer’s next auto-enrolment re-enrolment date, you will be moved back automatically and would need to ask again to stay.

Only the LGPS has this option. The NHS, teachers’ and Civil Service schemes have no equivalent, so it is a cheaper alternative to opting out altogether. The guide to opting out compares the two.

How your pension builds up

Each year you build up pension equal to a fixed fraction of your pensionable pay. The scheme regulations set the fraction, and the LGPS member website shows it. In the 50/50 section it is halved. Every April, the pension you have built up so far goes up in line with inflation, measured by the Consumer Prices Index.

Pensionable pay in the LGPS is broad. It includes basic pay and, in most cases, overtime, shift allowances and other payments made for your work. Expenses and some one-off payments are excluded.

Your normal pension age follows your State Pension age. Older members who were in the scheme before it switched to career average also have some final salary pension, paid from its own pension age and protected by an underpin that the McCloud remedy extended to more members.

Redundancy and early retirement

One rule matters to anyone facing redundancy later in their career. If you are made redundant or retired on business efficiency grounds after reaching the minimum age for taking a pension, your LGPS pension must be paid straight away with no reduction for early payment, and the employer bears the cost. Below that age, it stays in the fund until you can draw it.

You can also choose to retire early and take a reduced pension. Your employer has discretion to waive the reduction in some cases, and each employer publishes a policy on when it will do so.

Death and ill-health benefits

If you die in service, the scheme pays a lump sum to the people you nominate and pensions to an eligible partner and children. Ill-health retirement in the LGPS has three tiers, depending on how likely you are to work again, and the ill-health retirement guide explains how they differ. Your local fund’s website has the forms and your annual benefit statement, and many funds have an online account where you can update your nomination.