Authorised absence - unpaid leave of 15 days or more
From 1 April 2026, if you allow a member to take unpaid leave that lasts for 15 days or more, the duration of the break will not automatically count for pension purposes.
Members can elect to buy some or all of the pension lost during the unpaid period by paying extra contributions.
The contributions can be paid by lump sum or regular deductions from pay.
The cost of buying back pension ‘lost’ during a period of authorised unpaid absence of more than 14 days is now based on the member and the employer’s normal contribution rates. These contracts will be known as Qualifying Additional Pension Arrangement (QAPAs).
Improvements include:
- more time to decide whether to buy back the lost pension – the deadline has increased from 30 days to one year after returning to work, or the date the member leaves the employment they were in during the unpaid leave, if this is earlier. You, as an employer, can allow a longer deadline
- contributions are based on the member’s normal contribution rate – and on the pay they would have received if they had been at work. The employer also pays the contributions they would have paid if the member had not been absent
- the pension the member buys through a QAPA mirrors the pension they would have built up if they had been at work – it counts towards the calculation of survivor pensions and is not reduced for early payment if the pension is paid early due to redundancy or efficiency
- no medical report is required – The pension fund or employer cannot ask for a medical report before allowing members to start a QAPA.
QAPA Calculator
The Local Government Association (LGA) has published a calculator for employers to use to offer a member the opportunity to pay a QAPA to cover an authorised unpaid period of leave that lasted for 15 days or more.
An arrangement is a QAPA if:
- an LGPS member in England or Wales took a continuous period of authorised unpaid leave of more than 14 days that started after 31 March 2026, an
- the member elects to pay contributions to buy back the pension 'lost' in that unpaid period within a year of returning to work, or within a longer period allowed by the employer. The election must be made while the member is in the same employment they were in when they took the unpaid leave.
These new rules will only apply to a continuous period of authorised unpaid absence that started after 31 March 2026.