Paying extra in a LGPS pension

[Louisetopaz21]

I pay 6.5% of my salary into a LGPS. I am in a fortunate situation where we have no debts and I can save after outgoings £1000 per month no including my dh's amount he can also save. My dh wants me to pay extra into my pension but I don't know where even to start. Any suggestions to make my money go further. I already have my full allowance in an ISA thank you

LGPS is a defined benefit scheme based on final, or maybe career average salary.

It may be possible to buy in extra years particularly if you'll not have full service at pension age.

There's a website https://www.lgpsmember.org/

Otherwise ask around at work.

There will be an AVC scheme running alongside which is additional voluntary contributions. It's basically a tax efficient way of saving a lump sum.

You could go for a private pension if you don't want to be tied to state pension age. I'm in a different public sector pension scheme and also pay into a Vanguard SIPP as I'd hope to retire before 68 (or however old state pension age becomes...)

They offer an AVC scheme with prudential AFAIK.

https://www.mandg.com/pru/workplace-pensions/employees/public-sector-avc-schemes/local-gov

Many - not all - LGPS member organisations offer an AVC scheme. Defo worth looking into.

AVCs are an option, I pay into mine each month but to set it up I had to apply in the April - it wasn't possible to set it up in any other month, so we'll worth looking into it.

Also check your NI contributions with HMRC if there's any chance you have part or non-contributory years, you might want to pay that up first?

Thank you I will definitely check out the AVC scheme. My NI conts are fully up to date.

LGPS retiree here: paying into AVCs for the last ten years of service was one of my best financial decisions. I had a really useful amount which I took as a lump sum on retirement. It's well worth considering in my opinion.

Thanks Pandora I have about 16 to 20 years so sounds like a good option for me.

Take a look at AVCWise if you can do this. I have a LGPS pension in Scotland but with some spare money at the moment we are putting as much in as we can. Deducted by sal sacrifice from Gross pay means £166 from take home is £250 invested. You can access the fund when you retire (at 67 or earlier if you decide to).
Our scheme (amazingly...) gives you 100% of the fund tax free (not just 25%).
Some great explainers on YouTube and through AVCwise.
I just wish we had some money 10 years ago to trickle in...

Thanks for all the tips, off to investigate for my circumstances

"Our scheme (amazingly...) gives you 100% of the fund tax free (not just 25%)."

Probably as the AVC part is 25% or less of the full value of your pension when you calculate the DB part too.

Thanks Mikey I just did a calculation based on putting £350 a month and it came back with £96000 which is a good return.

I use AVCWise as well to make extra pension payments. You can also buy additional pension - your scheme administrator can tell you how to do this. I used my old DC pension pots to buy around £7000 pa additional pension.

I get them mixed up, and someone will correct me, but I have a LGPS and I pay both AVC - which is a separate payment into my LGPS (in my case to make up the difference between working FT and PT). I can access this at state pension age and is a defined benefit.
I also pay APC, into Aviva, which is a Stocks&Shares pension I can access from age 55. It's currently making around 5%. I'm currently planning to retire at age 60.

This is a useful thread

My partner has a LGPS pension.
He pays additional pension contributions into a private SIPP, as we want to retire early. That way can use the SIPP earlier and then LGPS for later on. The reductions for taking LGPS early are significant

My strategy was to avoid paying the 40% tax rate by paying AVCs. This meant that I was gaining that amount as well as accruing a nice lump on retirement. I also prioritised paying into AVCs once my mortgage was paid off (rather than other spending), and applied for promotions during my last few years of work.

My LA ran a number of pensions seminars over the years which I attended and did my best to get my head around the finer points.

The reductions for taking LGPS early are significant

ive tried to calculate this, presently if I take my LGPS 10 years early, I’ll need to live until I’m 86 to break even. But that’s not taking into account tax, if I take it later I’ll pay tax as the figure will be higher

im struggling whether to take it and thus so far have left it untouched

Placemarking. Thanks for the original question and the helpful replies.

Where / how did you do the calculation. I am about to commit to purchasing the max monthly amount of £631 of AVC and would like to know how approximately how beneficial this will be. I have 16 years until retirement but may work on for another 5 years and would continue to make payments in that time.

I work very part time (not enough to pay tax) and pay a token amount into a private SIPP as well as LGPS. Are there any benefits to putting this money into LGPS as extra instead?

I would use the avc as pps have stated instead of adding to the lgps

I been attending meetings at work about this - you get much more out of avc wise (and better benefits for you loved ones if you die early)

I would certainly look into it before signing up for anything

Yes quite a reduction even for a few years early Looking into this as ill