Local government pension scheme

[Dntknow]

can anyone explain it to me please? part time 15 hours a week, how much will i be paying? and how much will my employer pay towards it?
i don't understand nothing of this 😅 will i lose much money per month?
and wondering which is better nest or lgps?
thank you

oh god!! how can that be worth it that's terrible... my job is cleaner in a school only 15 hours a week, it must be what's waiting for me as well

When people say it’s a gold plated scheme what they mean is the amount you’ll get from it will be very good for the amount you’ve paid in. Obviously if you’re only working 15 hours a week on a low salary for say 5 years you won’t get a lot back in pension, but it will be more than if you were paying into a private pension instead of the local government one.

The amount may not be that high depending on pay levels and length of service but the scheme will still pay out way more to you and your dependants than you ever personally paid into it so it’s still a really good scheme.

@BeyondMyWits indeed this is why I'm wondering, and is it as good as everyone says.

If you had opted out of that scheme and put the money in investment i am sure you would have far more

If you opted out there would be no employer contribution. You'd only have the equivalent of the deductions from your pay to play with.

Unlikely. Based in the PP's example it is unfair of her relative to tease her about it being gold-plated, but of course it's not much based on only 6 years' service in a (presumably) NMW, part-time job. The pension is low but she would have contributed a pittance towards it (based on a small % of a small salary). If you'd get more outside the pension scheme based on the equivalent amount of employee contributions then people wouldn't describe defined benefit schemes as gold-plated, would they?

One option for those with very small defined benefit pensions is a full commutation lump sum, ie taking out the full actuarial value of the pension in one go. You can usually do this if it's worth under £10k in total, which a £7/month pension probably is (although it's probably too late for the PP to do this though if she's already receiving the pension).

Well what do you expect for a term time only, part time low salary job? You’re not going to end up with a pension of £20k a year

I was fully aware of that. It was just the way people assume all local authority pensions are big, worth it etc. Most are just a few quid.

The op stated 15hours a week... (suggests ancillary work that is generally lower paid - cleaner as stated in a later post) just warning them not to expect a lot. From experience.

Absolutely. But what many posters are pointing out is that you'd get even less from NEST with the same employee contribution. So the OP is almost certainly better off joining the LGPS than not.

Yep... I am a firm believer that you join every workplace pension scheme that you can.

I also have (had) a NEST pension from a very part time 7 year retail job. Took out the £200 ish pot as a lump sum when I left. (Some months I didn't earn enough to trigger contributions)

Never have I been more glad of working 15+ years as an IT manager in the civil service. (Career pre-kids/heart issues)

15 hours a week in a low paid job is never going to return much of a pension but it’s still more than if you are in a nest pension.

Very roughly, if the OP earns £9k a year and works for the council for 10 years, never getting any pay rises.
She will get 10/49th as her pension. About £1800 per year. If she works more years, increases her hours or gets a higher paying role, she will get more.
I think it a very good scheme, they aren't vast sums but are cheap to obtain for the OP and could certainly make life comfier.