Councillors & Mayors

Councillor members of the LGPS

Councillors in England could not join the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) between 1 April 2014 and 10 May 2026. If you were a councillor who was a member of the LGPS on 31 March 2014, you could stay in the Scheme until the end of that term of office. You could not re-join the LGPS in any later term of office during this period. 

From 11 May 2026, councillors and mayors in England can choose to join the LGPS provided you are elected members. 

Who can join?

You can opt to join the LGPS if you are under age 75 and you are elected as one of the following: 

Councillors

  • County, district and unitary councils
  • London borough councils
  • The Common Council of the City of London. 
  • the Council of the Isles of Scilly.
  • The London Assembly. 

Mayors

  • Mayors and deputy mayors of combined authorities.
  • Mayors and deputy mayors of combined county authorities
  • The Mayor of London 
  • Mayors of single authorities, through their councillors role.

Town and parish councillors are not eligible to join the scheme. 

You do not need your authority's consent to join, except if you are:

  • A Member of the London Assembly 
  • A Member of the Common Council of the City of London.
  • The Mayor of London. 

In these cases, the authority must confirm your eligibility before you can elect to join the scheme. 

How to join?

Joining the LGPS is not automatic for councillors or mayors. 

  • You must opt in by applying in writing to each body that pays you can allowance.
  • Membership starts from the first day of the next pay period after your application.
  • Membership cannot be backdated.

If you receive allowances from more than one eligible body, you can join the LGPS for each role. You must apply separately for each one. 

To opt in to the LGPS please complete the 'Elected member LGPS opt-in form' and return this form to your LGPS Scheme employer.  

Your pension membership

Each eligible body that pays you an allowance is treated as a separate LGPS employer. 

This means:

  • You will have a separate LGPS pension membership for each body that pays you directly. 
  • Contributions and benefits are worked out separately to membership.

This often applies if you serve on bodies such as:

  • Fire and rescue authorities
  • Combined authorities 
  • Combined county authorities.
How is my pension calculated?

Contributions

You pay contributions in the same way and at the same rate as other LGPS members, based on your pensionable pay. 

The accrual rate in the scheme is also the same as other LGPS members which is 1/49th of your pensionable pay.

You can choose to move to the 50/50 section if you want to pay lower contributions and build up benefits at a lower rate. 

For further details about contributions, please see: Contributions. 

Pensionable pay 

You are not treated as an employee for pay purposes. Instead, your pensionable pay is based on your approved allowances.

Pensionable pay include:

  • Basic allowance 
  • Special responsibility allowance.
  • Other relevant allowances
  • Any salary paid, where this applies. 

Travel and subsistence are not pensionable. 

If you use a salary sacrifice arrangement for AVC's, your pensionable pay is worked out as if no pay had been sacrificed.

Additional Pension Contributions (APCs) and Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)

You can:

  • Buy additional pension using APCs
  • Buy back lost pension after certain absences.
  • Pay for AVCs.

Your LGPS Scheme employer:

  • Cannot contribute towards APCs unless the arrangement is a 'qualifying additional pension arrangement' (QAPA).
  • Cannot pay extra into your AVCs. 
  • Cannot contribute towards Shared cost AVCs unless through salary sacrifice.  
Aggregating pension accounts

You can usually combine LGPS pension accounts, but there are limits. 

  • You can only combine elected membership with other elected membership. 
  • You cannot normally combine elected membership with non elected membership. 
  • If you hold more than one active membership and one ends without a deferred pension, the memberships must be combined. 
  • Pension built up as a councillor prior to April 2014 may be able to be transferred into your current LGPS account but it will provide CARE benefits, not final salary benefits. 
Transfers into the LGPS

You can usually transfer pension benefits into the LGPS. 

However: 

  • All transfers in provide CARE benefits
  • Transfer in do not provide final salary benefits.
  • Service transferred in does not receive McCloud underpin protection. 
Re-election and breaks in service

If you are re-elected and your LGPS Scheme employer stays the same, your LGPS membership is treated as continuous. 

If there is a genuine break between roles, a new pension membership is set up and normal scheme rules apply. 

Retirement Options

You have many of the same retirement options as other LGPS members, with some differences.

You can: 

  • Take ill health retirement if you meet the medical conditions. 
  • Take deferred benefits in the usual way after leaving office. 

You cannot: 

  • Take flexible retirement. 
  • Have your pension paid immediately due to redundancy or business efficiency. 
  • Ask your LGPS Scheme employer to waive early retirement reductions. 
  • Receive an award of additional pension from your employer.
Main differences in how LGPS rules apply to councillors and mayors
  • Councillors and mayors are not employees, so they do not have an employer in the usual sense. Instead, the authority that pays their 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. 
  • If you are an elected member, you are not automatically put into the LGPS. You must actively opt in if you want to build up pension benefits.
  • The rules around what counts as 'pensionable pay' are different for elected members.
  • Membership as an elected member cannot be combined with membership as a non-elected member by choice 
  • Elected members cannot flexibly retire.
  • If you transfer final salary benefits from another public service pension into the LGPS, these will be converted into career average (CARE) benefits rather than final salary benefits.
  • Elected members are not protected by the LGPS underpin protections.
  • The scheme employer cannot award extra pension to elected members or pay into a shared-cost AVC for them, 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).

If you are considering joining the LGPS as a councillor or mayor, you may also find this information useful: