Consider when retirement is right for you
Retiring is a big decision.
You are likely to have less income than staying at work. This means that you need to consider whether you will have enough money coming in to retire. More information on the kind of lifestyle you could have for retirement can be found here.
You can view your benefits for retirement by using the benefit projector on your SPFOnline account.
You should also consider what you will be doing in retirement.
Approach your employer
If you think that retirement may be for you, approach your employer to discuss your options (flexible retirement, going part time, etc) and to agree a retirement date (this should be at least 3 months away to allow us time to process your retirement).
Using the pay and service details your employer provides us with, we will provide you with details of your benefits.
Understand your benefits
How your pension is worked out is designed to explain how your benefits have been calculated.
If you remain unclear about anything, please contact us.
Pensions is a very technical subject and you are likely to only be retiring once, whilst we process thousands of retirements each year.
The UK Government has announced that the earliest age you can take your pension will increase from age 55 to 57 with effect from 6 April 2028. This won't apply if you have to take your pension early due to ill health. You could be protected from this increase, but will only be able to use this protection when you take your pension if the LGPS rules allow you to. The Scottish Government makes the LGPS rules. It has not yet confirmed if it will allow members who qualify for protection to take their LGPS pension before age 57, from 6 April 2028.
Decide how much tax-free cash to take
The major decision that you need to make about your benefits is how much tax free cash to take at retirement.
No two people will make the same decision, as it really does depend on your individual circumstances.
Giving up pension to increase your tax free lump sum does mean that you will have a lower pension for life, but it could enable you to do some of the things that you have always wanted to if you are able to manage on the lower pension.
Taking a lump sum is designed to help you understand your options.
Share this page
