Councillors and Mayors in England

Overview

From 11 May 2026, eligible councillors and mayors in England can join the LGPS. This section provides information about the key features of the LGPS and how the rules for councillors and mayors (referred to as ‘elected members’) are different.

The LGPS is secure and safe pension scheme. The regulations guarantee your benefits, so you don’t need to worry about stock market performance or changes in share prices.

Councillors in England were not able to join the LGPS between 1 April 2014 and 10 May 2026. Those councillor members in England who were members of the Scheme on 31 March 2014 were able to remain in the LGPS until the end of their term of office. They were not able to re-join the LGPS is any subsequent term of office. See Pre-April 2014 Councillors in England for more information on rules for councillors before April 2014.

Who is eligible to join?

The elected members below are eligible for the Scheme provided they are under age 75.

Mayors

mayors and deputy mayors of combined authorities
mayor and deputy mayors of combined county authorities
the Mayor of London
mayors of single authorities – although access is in their role as a councillor

Councillors

members of county and district councils, including unitary councils
members of London boroughs councils
members of the Common Council of the City of London
members of the Council of the Isles of Scilly
members of the London Assembly

As an elected member you do not need the consent of your authority to join the LGPS. The exceptions to this are members elected to the London Assembly, the Common Court of the City of London and the Mayor of London – these bodies are required to make a determination for members to be eligible.

Town and Parish councillors are not eligible for membership.

Scheme employers for elected members

Your Scheme employer is the body deemed to be responsible for your LGPS membership. As a councillors or mayor, you do not have an employer and therefore a body is nominated to perform this role for you.

Your Scheme employer is generally the body that pays you an allowance or salary and can therefore deduct contributions directly. Some councillors will have multiple Scheme employers and can therefore opt into the Scheme in multiple roles and have multiple pension accounts. For example, a councillor who serves on:

Huntingdonshire District Council
Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire and Rescue Authority, and
the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority

will receive allowances paid directly from four separate bodies. If they elect to join the LGPS in all their roles, they will have four Scheme employers and four separate pension accounts.

Main differences in how LGPS rules apply to elected members

Councillors and mayors are not employees, so you do not have an employer in the usual sense. Instead, the authority that pays your pensionable allowance or salary is treated as the LGPS Scheme employer and carries out the usual employer responsibilities, such as meeting part of the cost of benefits.
Elected members are not contractually or automatically enrolled into the LGPS. You must actively opt in if you want to build up pension benefits. If you receive an allowance or salary from more than one authority and want pension benefits from each role, you must complete a separate joining form for each authority.
The rules around what counts as ‘pensionable pay’ are different for elected members. See the section below for more detail.
You cannot choose combine elected membership of the Scheme with membership as a non-elected member.
You cannot flexibly retire or take early retirement due to redundancy or efficiency.
If you transfer final salary benefits from another public service pension scheme into the LGPS, these will be converted into career average (CARE) benefits rather than final salary benefits.
Elected members are not protected by the underpin protection.
Your Scheme employer cannot award you extra pension or pay into a shared‑cost AVC for you, unless the AVC is set up as a salary‑sacrifice shared‑cost AVC.
Scheme employers cannot share the cost of Additional Pension Contributions (APCs) for councillors unless the arrangement is a ‘qualifying additional pension arrangement’ (QAPA).

Contribution rates

You pay contributions on your pensionable pay at your contribution rate.

Your contribution rate depends on how much you are paid. It’s currently between 5.5% and 12.5% of your pensionable pay. The rate you pay depends on which pay band you fall into. When you join, and every April afterwards, your Scheme employer will decide your contribution rate. If your pay changes throughout the year, your Scheme employer may decide to review your contribution rate.

If you elect for the 50/50 section of the Scheme, you would pay half the contribution rate. See Your contributions to find out more about the different contribution bands, and how tax relief makes the real cost of paying in even lower.

Pensionable pay for elected members

Pensionable pay is the pay used to work out your pension. In most cases, it is also the pay from which your contributions are deducted.

The meaning of pensionable pay for elected members is different than for employees.

Pensionable pay for councillors and mayors is the total of following amounts paid under the authority’s approved remuneration scheme:

Basic allowances
Special responsibility allowances
Relevant allowances
Any relevant salary paid

A relevant allowance is an allowance paid under a combined authority or combined county authority establishment order except travel and subsistence allowances. Travel and subsistence allowances are not pensionable.

Local Government Pension Scheme