Local Government Pension Scheme

Your pension fund will take underpin protection into account when they work out your pension. If your pension is increased because of the underpin, they will tell you how much has been added.

You do not need to make a decision or take any legal action to qualify for underpin protection. The protection will automatically apply.

For many members, the pension they built up in the career average scheme is higher than the pension they would have built up in the final salary scheme. Most people will not see an increase to their pension because of the underpin.

If you are protected and you took your pension before 1 October 2023, your pension fund will review the pension that they are paying you. If the pension you built up between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2022 would have been higher in the final salary scheme, your pension will be increased. Your pension fund will also pay arrears of pension payments back to the date your pension was first paid, and interest.

Do not be concerned if your pension fund does not contact you when the remedy comes into force in October 2023:

• Your pension fund has thousands of pensions to review. This is a huge exercise which will take many months to complete.
• For many members, the pension they built up in the career average scheme is better than the pension they would have got from the final salary scheme. Their pensions are not increased because of underpin protection.

If you were born before 1 April 1957 and you took your pension before 1 October 2023, you may have been protected by the ‘old’ underpin rules in force before that date. A small number of members saw an increase to their pension because of those ‘old’ rules.

The current underpin rules in force from 1 October 2023 do not just extend underpin protection to younger members. They also give more detail about how the underpin check should work. Your pension fund will review your pension even if you were protected by the ‘old’ underpin rules when you took it. If your pension would have been higher based on the rules now in force, it will increase. Your pension fund will pay arrears of pension payments back to the date your pension was first paid and interest.

The underpin check will work in the same way as it does for other members. If your ill health pension was paid to you before 1 October 2023 and it increases because of the underpin, your pension fund will pay the arrears of pension payments and interest.

If you receive a tier 3 ill health pension, the underpin check will work as normal. However, any increase to your pension because of your underpin protection stops when your tier 3 pension stops. When you retire and take your pension later, your pension fund will do a second underpin check based on the pension being paid at that time.

If you retired with a tier 1 or 2 ill health pension, your pension was increased. The increase is based on the pension you would have built up between your leaving date and your Normal Pension Age. If you took that ill health pension before 1 April 2022, then all or part of the increase will be included in the underpin check. The underpin check will include the increase for the period up to 31 March 2022, or age 65 if this is earlier. You can read more about Ill health retirement in the LGPS.

If you take flexible retirement, you can choose whether to take some, all or none of the pension you built up after 31 March 2014. If the underpin check means that your pension increases, a part of the increase will be paid. The proportion will match the proportion of the benefits built up after 31 March 2014 that you choose to take. A further underpin check will be done when you take the rest of your pension.

If you took flexible retirement before 1 April 2022 and did not opt out of the LGPS, you will have built up further pension that is protected by the underpin after your flexible retirement. Your pension fund will do a further underpin check when you fully retire.

You can read more about flexible retirement on the Taking your pension page.