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Your pension contributions

LGPS Councillor

As a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme, or LGPS Councillor, your pension contributions come out of your fees before any tax is taken off. Your contribution is 6% of the fees you receive.

What is the low earner’s pension payment?

Most members automatically receive tax relief on their pension contributions. However, some lower earners do not benefit from this tax relief because their earnings are too low to pay income tax.

The low earner’s pension payment has been introduced to fix this. It is a payment to eligible low earners that is equal to the tax relief available to members of pension schemes that use a different method of giving pension tax relief.

Could I be eligible?

You may be entitled to a payment if, from the 2024/2025 tax year onwards, you:

  • paid contributions to the LGPS or another workplace pension scheme that uses a net pay arrangement, and
  • did not receive tax relief on those contributions because you did not pay income tax

HM Revenue & Customs will check eligibility for each tax year separately, so some people may qualify for payments for more than one year.

Do I need to apply?

You do not need to apply. If you are eligible, HM Revenue & Customs will contact you directly. They will either write to eligible individuals or contact them through their Personal Tax Account from August 2026 onwards.

Watch out for scams

As HM Revenue & Customs will be contacting people about money they may be owed, fraudsters may try to take advantage of the situation.

Remember:

  • HM Revenue & Customs will never ask you to transfer money to them to receive a payment
  • HM Revenue & Customs will never ask for your PIN numbers or passwords

If you are unsure if a message is genuine, you can click on check if an email you’ve received from HM Revenue & Customs is genuine – GOV.UK The subject ‘low earner’s pensions payment’ will be included in the list from August 2026.

Council pension contributions

As well as your contributions, your council also contributes to make sure there is enough money at the time you retire to pay your pension.

Every three years, our Actuary works out what your council’s contribution percentage should be.

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