Absences

What happens to your pension if you are absent from work

Sick leave

If you are off work due to sickness or injury, your pay might go down or you may receive no pay. If this happens, a notional pay figure is used to work out your pension to make sure you do not lose out. This notional pay is called your Assumed Pensionable Pay. You can find out more about Assumed Pensionable Pay in the section below.

You will continue to pay your basic LGPS contributions on any pay that you receive while you are off sick. If you are on unpaid sick leave, you will not pay any contributions.

If you are in the 50/50 section of the Scheme and your pay is reduced to zero while you are on sick leave, you will automatically be moved into the main section of the Scheme from the beginning of the next pay period. You would start to build up full pension benefits in the LGPS even though you are not paying any pension contributions. This may not apply if you are on leave for a short period. If your pay re-starts before the next pay period begins, you would remain in the 50/50 section.


Child-related Leave

Relevant child-related leave in the LGPS means:

  • ordinary maternity or adoption leave – normally the first 26 weeks
  • paid additional maternity or adoption leave – normally week 27 to week 39
  • unpaid additional maternity or adoption leave – if the unpaid period started 1 April 2026 or later
  • paid shared parental leave
  • unpaid shared parental leave – if the unpaid period started 1 April 2026 or later
  • paternity leave
  • bereaved partner’s paternity leave
  • paid parental bereavement leave, and
  • paid neonatal care leave.

During a period of relevant child-related leave, your pension is usually worked out using your Assumed Pensionable Pay. Assumed Pensionable Pay is a notional figure that is used to make sure your pension is not affected by the pay reduction. You would continue to build up a pension in the LGPS as if you were working normally and receiving normal pay.

If you are in the 50/50 section and you go on to no pay during maternity leave, adoption leave, shared parental leave, paternity leave or bereaved partner’s paternity leave, you will automatically be moved to the main section of the Scheme from the beginning of the next pay period. You would start to build up full pension benefits in the LGPS even though you are not paying any pension contributions.

The authorised unpaid leave rules set out in the next sections apply to:

  • unpaid neonatal care leave
  • unpaid parental bereavement leave
  • unpaid additional maternity leave that started before 1 April 2026
  • unpaid additional adoption leave that started before 1 April 2026, and
  • unpaid shared parental leave that started before 1 April 2026.
Unpaid leave

Authorised unpaid leave - less than 15 days starting on or after 1 April 2026

If your employer allows you to take unpaid leave that lasts less than 15 days, your pension will continue to build up in this period. You and your employer both pay the pension contributions that would have been paid if you were at work receiving your normal pay..

This will apply if you are unpaid when you are absent from work because of jury service.

It may also apply if you have bought annual leave from your employer, but this depends on how the scheme to buy extra leave works. If you are buying or thinking about buying extra annual leave, you can check with your employer how your pension will be affected.

Authorised unpaid leave - 15 days or more starting on or after 1 April 2026

If your employer allows you to take unpaid leave that lasts for 15 days or more, the break will not automatically count for pension purposes. This also applies if you were absent from work and unpaid for more than 15 days for jury service. You can choose to pay extra contributions to buy the pension you ‘lost’ in the unpaid period.

If you elect to pay these extra contributions within a year of returning to work, the cost is split between you and your employer. The contributions can be paid by lump sum or regular deductions from your pay. If you take an unpaid break, your employer will be able to tell you the cost and your payment options.

An arrangement to buy pension ‘lost’ in a period of unpaid leave that started 1 April 2026 or later is known as a Qualifying Additional Pension Arrangement or QAPA.

  • The unpaid leave started 1 April 2026 or later
  • The unpaid leave lasted for 15 days or more
  • You elect to pay the extra contributions within a year of returning to work (or a longer period allowed by your employer), and
  • You are in the same employment you were in when you took the unpaid leave when you elect to pay the extra contributions.
  • The cost is based on the pension contributions that would have been paid if you were at work and receiving your normal pay.

If the unpaid break lasts less than three years:

  • You pay member contributions at your normal contribution rate.
  • Your employer pays the employer contributions.

If the unpaid break lasts more than three years:

  • Your employer only pays contributions for the first three years.
  • You can still buy the pension you lost after the first three years but you pay both member and employer contributions yourself.
  • Unlike pension bought using APC contributions, a QAPA is not reduced if you retire because of redundancy or business efficiency before your Normal Pension Age.

If your employer allowed you to take unpaid leave, you did not pay contributions. You and your employer could take out a shared cost additional pension contributions contract (SCAPC) within 30 days (or longer if your employer allowed).

The rules that applied before 1 April 2026 still apply if you took an authorised unpaid break that started before that date. Under those rules, the period does not count for pension purposes unless you elect to pay Additional Pension Contributions (APCs) to buy the pension you ‘lost’ during the absence.

If you make an election to pay APCs to purchase ‘lost’ pension within 30 days of returning to work, the cost will be split between you and your employer.

Authorised unpaid absence due to strike action

If you are away from work with no pay because of strike action, you can buy back the pension ‘lost’. You must meet the full cost yourself, but your employer may choose to contribute in line with their published policy.

For more information on APCs see Increase your pension benefits | Business and economy | Hampshire County Council

Reserve Forces leave

If you are on reserve forces leave and elect to remain in the LGPS, your pension will be worked out using your Assumed Pensionable Pay. This ensures that you continue to build up pension as if you were at work receiving your normal pay. You can find out more about Assumed Pensionable Pay in the section below.

Your employer needs to tell you the amount of basic pension contributions you and the Ministry of Defence must pay, any additional contributions you are paying and the amount of Assumed Pensionable Pay those contributions must be collected on. You should pass the information to the Ministry of Defence who will then deduct the pension contributions and pay them to your LGPS pension fund.

Pension contributions will not be deducted from any pay you receive from your LGPS employer during this period.