Joining the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

You may be enrolled in the LGPS due to:

  • automatic enrolment under employment law or
  • LGPS requirements or both.

Details of these are given below.

Automatic enrolment

The government introduced automatic enrolment as a way of encouraging people to save for their future through a pension scheme at work. It requires all employers to enrol their eligible workers into a workplace pension, if they are not already in one. This is an employer responsibility, separate from the LGPS. The LGPS is a workplace pension, qualifying under automatic enrolment.

You are eligible under automatic enrolment if you:

  • are at least 22 years old,
  • have not reached state pension age,
  • earn more than a minimum amount a year, and
  • normally work in the UK under a contract of employment.

You do not have to do anything as your employer will make all the arrangements to enrol you.

If you subsequently opt out, your employer will be required to re-enrol you into the LGPS at least every three years on a set re-enrolment date, if you are eligible.

If you are not eligible, you might have the right to opt into your employer's workplace pension scheme, and your employer might pay into it too.

If you have any queries about being automatically enrolled into the LGPS, please contact your employer.

You will not be automatically enrolled into the LGPS if:

  • you are not eligible, or
  • you are already in a suitable workplace pension scheme.

If you have just joined the LGPS, see: Just joined?

LGPS requirements

In addition to the automatic enrolment regulations, your employer will enrol you into the LGPS if when you start your employment:

  • you are under age 75,
  • you have a contract for 3 months or more.

There is no lower age limit or earnings limit to being enrolled in the LGPS.

If you have just joined the LGPS, see: Just joined?

Not enrolled but should be

If you think that you should have been automatically enrolled into the LGPS and have not been, you should contact your employer in the first instance.

If you still have problems, see Employer not paying contributions.