Eligibility: Professional Support colleagues in Grades 6 and above, or those with continuous service prior to 2017.
The LGPS provides a guaranteed package of benefits which are backed by law including:
- A secure pension - payable for life that increases with the cost of living
- Tax free cash - the option to exchange part of your pension for a tax-free lump sum at retirement
- Voluntary early retirement - from age 55 (even though the scheme's normal pension age is the same as your State pension age but with a minimum of age 65). Benefits drawn before normal pension age may be reduced for early payment
- Ill-health cover - if you have to retire due to illness you could receive immediate benefits which may be based on an enhanced period of scheme membership
- Redundancy cover - with the early payment of pension benefits if you are made redundant or retired on business efficiency grounds at 55 or over
- Life cover - with a lump sum of three times your final pay if you die in service
- Cover for my family upon my death - including a survivor's pension for your husband, wife, civil partner or nominated cohabiting partner as well as children's pensions
This is an estimate of the values of your benefits at 31 March 2025 which is calculated as follows:
LGPS Support for Members
Mypension is a secure service where you can view your pension details online and make changes to some types of personal information if you are an active, deferred or pensioner member.
Active Members has a range of popular topics, including:
- Joining the scheme
- Contribution rates and additional contributions
- Annual benefit statements
- Change in circumstances
- Retirement
- Death and survivor’s pensions
Contact LGPS if you would prefer to phone or write, or need support in accessing the online pension portal.
Contribution Rates
| Annual Salary |
Member Contribution Rates |
|
Up to £18,400
|
5.5% |
| £18,401 to £29,000 |
5.8% |
| £29,001 to £47,300 |
6.5% |
| £47,301 to £59,800 |
6.8% |
| £59,801 to £84,000 |
8.5% |
| £84,001 to £119,100 |
9.9% |
| £119,101 to £140,400 |
10.5% |
|
£140,401 to £210,700
|
11.4% |
|
£210,701 and above
|
12.5% |
Employer contribution rate from 1 April 2026 - 13.9%
Salary Sacrifice - Shared Cost AVCs
Our salary sacrifice Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contributions (shared cost AVCs) scheme provides members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with the opportunity to make cost efficient retirement savings alongside their LGPS.
We’ve appointed My Money Matters as our implementation partner and, as experts in this field, My Money Matters will support us in providing this new benefit.
The provision of the scheme has no impact on our AVC provider, Prudential. Prudential will support us with the salary sacrifice Shared Cost AVC arrangement and will continue to manage and administer the Standard AVC and Shared Cost AVC plans.
What is a Salary Sacrifice Shared Cost AVC Scheme?
The LGPS allow employees to build up their pension benefits for retirement by paying Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) by way of a tax-free deduction through payroll. If an employee chooses to pay AVCs, they are invested separately from the main LGPS pension benefits and provide additional income upon retirement.
The LGPS has a provision within its regulations to allow an employer to also contribute to an employee’s AVC arrangement. This is known as a ‘Shared Cost’ AVC which can be provided through a salary sacrifice arrangement.
A salary sacrifice arrangement is a popular and legitimate method used by employers to provide employees with a benefit (in this case the benefit is AVCs, paid by us into an employee’s AVC fund).
How it works
Under the Shared Cost AVCs scheme, we will agree to pay an employee’s chosen contribution amount to their AVC fund and, in return, the employee agrees to enter a salary sacrifice arrangement under which they accept a reduction in their gross salary, which is equal to the contribution amount. In addition, the employee is required to pay a fixed £1 a month as their individual contribution to the Shared Cost AVCs arrangement. This contribution is deducted from the employee’s gross salary and paid into the AVC fund in addition to the contribution under the salary sacrifice arrangement.
For employees, the advantage is that they will not pay tax or National Insurance Contributions (NICs) on the amount of salary sacrificed. As a result, operating Shared Cost AVCs through a salary sacrifice arrangement provides an opportunity for employees to save NICs in addition to the usual tax savings, thus increasing take-home pay when compared to paying AVCs in the standard way.
Remember the value of your investment can go down as well as up and may be worth less than what was paid in.
How to join
If you are an existing Prudential AVC member, you can transfer to the shared cost AVC scheme or end your standard plan and start a new shared cost AVC plan.
If you do not currently pay into an AVC with Prudential, you can join the shared cost AVC scheme by registering on the shared cost AVC platform.
Contact Us
If you have any questions, please contact the Payroll team (Northumbria login required), who will be happy to assist you.
