Starting a family

Starting a family is a good time to reflect on your financial arrangements for the future. Your pension is a major part of this. Here are some of the things you may want to think about. Your LGPS pension offers you and your family many benefits like:

• Protection for your family in the form of survivors’ pensions for:
  • widows
  • widowers
  • eligible co-habiting partners
  • civil partners
  • dependant children.

• A death in service lump sum of three times assumed pensionable pay.
• An ill-health pension from any age.
• Redundancy cover from age 55.

You may find that starting a family means you’re struggling with your finances. Rather than opt out of the LGPS, you can still keep full life and ill health cover by joining the 50/50 section . This gives you the flexibility to pay half your normal contribution rate.

Or becoming a parent may lead you to want to build up more retirement savings. You can see the different options for this on our paying more page.

If you’re not sure about any part of your pension planning, you should get independent financial advice.