Local Government Pension Scheme

Whether your LGPS pension is protected by the underpin can depend on your membership of a different public service pension scheme. However, if you have a right to a refund of contributions or have already taken a refund of contributions from a different scheme, that generally won’t count as membership.

• If you joined the other scheme after you left the LGPS, then taking a refund of contributions from that scheme will not change your protection in the LGPS
• If you were a member of the other scheme before you joined the LGPS, then that period won’t count if you take a refund of contributions or transfer them to a private pension scheme
• If you have a right to take a refund of contributions from a different scheme, but instead you complete a transfer to a different public service pension scheme, that membership could count. For some members, this would mean that a break is no longer a disqualifying gap. LGPS benefits built up after the break would be protected.