All LGPS pensions in payment are currently revalued each April in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
If there's a rise in price inflation, HM Treasury will issue an order to apply an increase to your pension.
If there's a fall in price inflation, HM Treasury can issue an order that means we must apply negative revaluation and this means your pension won’t increase for that year.
The revaluation of your Local Government and state pension is based on the CPI as at 30 September from the previous year and is payable from the first Monday on or after 6 April. We’ll write to you each year to let you know how much your annual pension will be.
Your pension will be increased if you:
- Are aged 55 or over; or
- Are receiving a spouse’s or child’s pension; or
- Retire on ill health grounds and, if you're under age 55, you meet certain criteria
If you don't fall into one of these groups, your pension could still attract an increase, but it will not be paid until your 55th birthday.
The payment of the pension increase comes from the Fund but when you reach your state retirement age, this changes as some of the increase is paid by the Government and some will continue to be paid by the Fund.
When you joined the LGPS, you were contracted out of the additional state pension (currently known as the State Second Pension (S2P) and formerly known as the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS)). When you retire, your LGPS pension must not be less than the pension you would have received from the state scheme, so the Fund gives an undertaking to provide you with the same or greater amount of pension.
If you were an active member of the LGPS between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997, then you would have been contracted out of SERPS and, instead of building up additional state pension, would have built a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) for this period. The GMP is broadly comparable to the additional state pension that you would have built up under SERPS. The responsibility of paying the pension increase on the GMP is taken up by the state when you reach your state retirement age, and this will be paid to you along with your Basic State Pension.
For more details about increases, see our pension increases guide.