Membership Conditions

Since 1 April 2008, for an employee to be eligible to join the LGPS, they must have a contract of employment of at least three months' duration, be under the age of 75 (70 for Coroners) and, if they work for a Town or Parish Council or certain admitted bodies, be designated by their employer as having a right to join the Scheme.

There is now no lower age limit for joining the scheme and the restrictions that previously applied of 40 years membership at 60 and 45 years membership at 65, have been removed. In fact, employees working on beyond the age of 65 can continue to contribute to the scheme up until 2 days before their 75th birthday.

Membership includes:

• Any period for which a member has paid (or is treated as having paid) contributions (including any period during which a member is away from work because of illness or injury)
• Any period granted to a member by the employer under Regulation 12 of the LGPS (Benefits, Membership, Contributions) Regulations 2007 (augmented membership)
• Any period which a member is entitled to count following a transfer of former pension rights into the Scheme

A member may not count any period for which a refund of contributions has been paid, or any period for which a transfer of pension rights has been paid out of the scheme.

In calculating the amount of benefit payable to a scheme member, the length of membership forms a vital part of the formula. Whole and part years are used and where a member is employed on a part time basis, membership is calculated at the appropriate fraction of full time employment.

Example
Membership periods:
A 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2005 Full time
B 1 January 2006 to 31 January 2009 Part time @ 50%
A = 5 years
B = 3 years 31/365 days i.e 3.08493 x 50% = 1.5425 (1 year 198 days)
Total membership = 6 years 198 days

An added complication is the scheme member who works on a casual or non-fixed hour basis. In this situation the best way of working out a period of membership is to ascertain the average number of hours worked by the member each week.

As a simple example, assume the following:
Week 1 20 hours worked
Week 2 25 hours worked
Week 3 12 hours worked
Week 4 30 hours worked
Average hours = 87 hours divided by 4 = 21.75 hours per week

Variable Time Employees

Employees on casual contracts may only become LGPS members if there is a mutuality of obligation i.e. where the employer is obliged to provide work for the employee and the employee is obliged to accept it. The position for casual workers from 1 April 2008 is:

• Where there was a mutuality of obligation on 31 March and 1 April 2008 then the casual member remained in the LGPS (regardless of whether or not they actually worked on 1 April and/or 31 March)

• Where there was a mutuality of obligation on 31 March but not on 1 April 2008 then the casual member, did not remain in the LGPS on 1 April 2008.
  

• Where there was no mutuality of obligation and the casual member was not offered, or was offered but did not accept work on 31 March 2008, then the casual worker was not a member of the LGPS on 1 April 2008.
  

• Where there is no mutuality of obligation but the casual member was offered and accepted work on 31st March 2008 then the casual member remained in the LGPS only for so long as there is no break in service. For example, they came out of the LGPS on the first day on or after 1 April 2008 when they are either not offered work or were offered but did not accept work.

After April 1, 2008, casual employees are only able to become LGPS members if they enter a mutual obligation casual contract for more than three months.

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