Transferring Benefits
Transferring Benefits
Can I transfer my pension into the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)?
You may be able to transfer in pension benefits from another provider so all your benefits are in one place. However, only certain pensions can be transferred in. The Fund can only accept pension benefits from other LGPS providers or from providers who are part of the Public Sector Transfer Club. A list of transfer club members is available on the Civil Service Pension Scheme website.
You have 12 months from joining the Scheme to transfer your other pension benefits. If you wish to transfer, please complete the Previous Pension Information form.
Protected Pension Age (PPA)
The UK Government has announced that the earliest age you can ordinarily take your pension will increase from age 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028. You could be protected from this increase if you joined the LGPS in Scotland before 4 November 2021 or transferred a previous pension in certain conditions. If you joined the LGPS in Scotland from 4 November 2021 onwards, any pension transferred in from another scheme will still be protected, despite the fact that pension built up in our scheme would only be paid from age 57.
We are awaiting confirmation from the Scottish government on whether payment of any protected pension could be taken before age 57, separately from your pension built up in the LGPS.
What if I have other pension benefits within the Local Government Pension Scheme?
If you already have benefits with another Local Government Pension Scheme Fund you can choose to either move them to the North East Scotland Pension Fund or keep them separate. To move them please complete our Previous Pension Information form.
If you are already paying into the LGPS and you get another job where you are eligible for membership of the scheme, you can be a member in all positions. You will have a separate pension account for each job and receive a separate pension for each at retirement.
If you already have benefits with the North East Scotland Pension Fund, you can choose to keep your new and existing pension benefits separate or join them together. When you join we will write to you asking what you would like to do.
In either of the above scenarios, you have 12 months from joining to decide whether to keep your pension benefits separate or join them together.
