Paying in before 1 April 2014

All existing Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC), shared cost Additional Voluntary Contribution (SCAVC), Added Years, Additional Regular Contribution (ARC), Preston part-time buy-back, and Additional Survivor Benefit Contributions (ASBC) contracts in force immediately prior to 1 April 2014 continued from 1 April 2014 on the terms of the contract when they were originally taken out.

Protection if you leave and rejoin the LGPS in the future

If you leave the scheme before being able to immediately draw your pension and you have sufficient membership to have built up a pension entitlement (you have more than two years of LGPS qualifying membership) you will be awarded deferred benefits which remain in the scheme (unless you elect to transfer them to another pension scheme).

If you automatically moved to the Career Average Revalued Earnings Scheme on 1 April 2014, subsequently ceased membership with entitlement to a deferred benefit and then rejoined the scheme at a later date, provided you do not have a break in membership of more than 5 years from any public service pension scheme, your final salary benefits can be linked to your new pension account and will be calculated on your final salary in your new employment when you leave.

You can elect to amalgamate your pension benefits together or keep them separate but you would need to notify your Pension Fund of this within 12 months of rejoining the scheme.