Claiming your Deferred pension benefits

All public service pensions (of which the Local Government Pension Fund LGPS is one) are increased each year to reflect the rises in the cost of living. This is sometimes called inflation-proofing or index linking.

The LGPS offers full index linking to pension benefits i.e. there is no upper limit or capping on the amount by which benefits will be increased in times of high inflation.

Pensions Increase is normally paid to:

• Deferred pensioners (members who have left the scheme but are under retirement age)
• Retired members who are aged 55 or over
• Retired members who have retired for the reason of permanent ill health at any age
• Spouses and dependents of former retired members 

Please note: As a Deferred member you are unable to continue to pay contributions into the LGPS and you are therefore no longer building up pension. You are also unable to purchase additional annual pension as a Deferred member. The only increase applied to your Deferred pension is the CPI increase as detailed below.

Pensions Increase 2025

Your deferred Berkshire pension is increased annually in line with the Pensions Increase Order which is currently linked to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). The increase is calculated in line with the CPI index based on the 12 months to September 2024.

As the September 2024 CPI was 1.7%, your deferred pension increased by 1.7% from Monday 7 April 2025.