No longer paying in

What you can do with your pension benefits depends on your membership length and whether you have transferred in pension rights.

Less than two years’ membership and no transferred in pension rights:

• You can request a refund of your contributions.
• You may be able to transfer your benefits to a new scheme.
• You can delay your decision until you know what you would like to do - this is known as a frozen refund. You will have five years from your date of leaving to make your decision.

Two years or more of membership (or have transferred in pension rights to the Fund from another pension scheme):

• You can leave your pension benefits in the Fund.
• You may be able to transfer your benefits to a new scheme.

You can only request a transfer if you are more than one year from your Normal Pension Age.

When you leave the Fund, it is possible to transfer your pension benefits from the Fund to another pension arrangement, subject to the new scheme’s rules. To find out more about transferring your Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) benefits, read through the information on the LGPS website.

You should consider seeking financial advice before making any changes to your pension arrangements. If you want to transfer more than £30,000 from a defined benefit scheme, you must receive financial advice before any transfer is accepted. MoneyHelper provides free independent and impartial information and guidance.

Please be mindful of pension scams – take a look at our Pension scams page.

Every year a Deferred Benefit Statement will be made available via Member Online. This shows the current value of your deferred benefits.

In addition to the statement, you can watch a video to help you understand your statement and what it means to you on our YouTube channel .