As an employer…
You need a flexible retirement policy
The LGPS regulations state that all employers must have a flexible retirement policy. With flexible retirement the member can take their pension before their State Pension age. So, you need to decide whether there are cases where you wouldn’t reduce a member’s pension for taking it early.
You need a process for considering requests
Your employees need to know how they can ask you for flexible retirement. If you’re a larger employer, you could create a form asking for the information you need. You’ll need to think about:
- ongoing service need
- salary saving
- any costs you might need to pay us if the member is taking their pension early.
You can use i-Connect to get an estimate of these costs.
You need to tell us
If you agree that the member can take flexible retirement you need to:
- fill in the leavers section on i-Connect or complete the retirement form straight away
- send us a ‘Notification of employer decision form’ so we know if you’ve agreed to waive any early payment reductions
- let us know if the member still wants to pay contributions
- let us know if they’ve decided to opt out of the LGPS when they flexibly retire.
You must pay us
Any costs associated with your employee retiring early if relevant.
You need to reassess your employee’s contribution rate
If your employee wants to continue paying into the LGPS when they flexibly retire, their reduction in hours or grade may mean you need to put them on a different contribution rate.
Appeals
Any member of the LGPS can appeal against any decision made by you. This includes whether you’ve approved their flexible retirement application. So, it’s important to have a good flexible retirement policy.
