A series of online calculators are available to help you understand how your pension builds up and the cost to you.
Find out the monthly cost of being a member of the LGPS.
Pension Account Modeller
The Pension Account Modeller is to help you understand how pension accounts work. This Modeller only shows how a pension builds up from April 2014.
When you take payment your pension benefits you will have the option to exchange some of your pension for lump sum. You can use this calculator to find out how much tax-free lump sum you could have.
You can pay additional pension contributions (APCs) to boost your pension at retirement or to cover lost pension due to authorised unpaid leave or industrial action.
The maximum amount of additional annual pension you can buy is currently £7,579 (2023/2024 rate). This figure will increase each year in line with the cost of living.
Annual Allowance quick check tool
The Annual Allowance (AA) is the amount by which the value of your pension benefits may increase in any one year without you having to pay a tax charge. You can use this check tool to check if your LGPS pension saving in a tax year (from 2016/17 onwards) is likely to exceed the annual allowance.
Lifetime Allowance quick check tool
The lifetime allowance is the total value of all pension benefits you can have without triggering an excess benefits tax charge. You can use the quick check tool to:
- estimate the total value of your LGPS benefits (including an in-house AVC fund)
- estimate how much of the current lifetime allowance your LGPS benefits would use
- check if an excess tax charge is likely to be payable in respect of your LGPS benefits