Breaks in Service

Breaks in Service

Table of Contents

Breaks in Service

If an employee moves to a period of reduced contractual or nil pay as a result of sickness or injury or during a period of relevant child related leave (ordinary maternity, paternity or adoption leave and paid additional maternity, paternity or adoption leave) the Scheme employer is required to apply Assumed Pensionable Pay (APP) for pension purposes.

Note that this does not include Unpaid additional maternity, paternity or adoption leave available at the end of relevant child related leave. This is to be treated as unpaid leave of absence and no APP accrues during that period (unless the member enters into an APC contract to purchase the 'lost' pension in which case the APP figure will be required in order to calculate the 'lost' pension).

If the member was in the 50/50 section prior to dropping to nil contractual pay because of sickness or injury they should be returned to the main section from the beginning of the next pay period (provided they are still on no pay at that time due to sickness or injury).

Trade Dispute

If a member is absent from work because of a trade dispute they will remain a member of the LGPS during the absence but they will not build up any pension for the period that they are absent.

This means that the amount of pension to be credited to a member's pension account will be reduced marginally. This is often referred to as 'lost' pension.

A series of documents has been produced to enable employers to communicate to their staff the implications of strike action for pension purposes. The "Action to be taken by employers" document will explain the process that you will need to follow in notifying your staff of the option available to buy back their lost pension.