You receive tax relief on your contributions. This means that if you pay basic rate tax, every £1 that you put into the Scheme only costs you 80p.
The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is contracted out of the State Second Pension (S2P). This means that you pay reduced National Insurance contributions, to reflect the fact that the pension you get from the LGPS replaces S2P for the time you are a member.
Contracting out will be abolished from 6 April 2016, as part of the government’s plan to create a single tier state pension. This means from 6 April 2016, you'll no longer pay reduced National Insurance contributions.
For more information on contracting out and the State Pensions go to www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/overview