Retirement

The Redundancy/Business Efficiency process

If a member is retired early on redundancy grounds (either through voluntary or compulsory redundancy) or their employment is terminated in the interests of the efficient exercise of the service (known as Business Efficiency), their pension benefits are paid immediately if the member satisfies all of the following conditions:

• They are aged 55 or over at the point they are retired on redundancy or efficiency grounds
• They have at least two years membership of the LGPS (or less than 2 years having previously accepted a transfer of former pension rights into the scheme from another LGPS Fund)

Benefits paid in this way are released with immediate effect after the member’s date of leaving and paid for their lifetime without reduction.

Please note: the member's pension is not automatically enhanced up to their NPA in the event of redundancy/efficiency. However the employer can apply a discretion to award additional pension - please consult your policy statement accordingly.

Any such retirement is a decision of the employer and not of the employee. In most cases, there is a cost to the employer for the release of pension benefits on redundancy or efficiency grounds. Therefore we recommend you request an estimate from the pension team in advance of any decisions being made. We can then calculate in advance the value of the member’s pension benefits and the cost (if any) to the employer.

You can request an estimate by completing form EST3 (or EST3 i-Connect if you are an i-Connect user) and forwarding this to info@berkshirepensions.org.uk