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).