When an employee leaves your organisation, you must inform us as soon as possible. What you need to do and how you tell us about an employee leaving depends on:
- The age of the employee.
- How long they have been paying into the scheme.
- The reason for leaving.
Leavers under age 55
Employees under age 55 usually leave the scheme for the following reasons:
- Leaving with deferred benefits.
- Opting out of the Scheme.
Employees under 55 cannot leave and start to draw their pension, their benefits will either be deferred (put on hold) or refunded by Avon Pension Fund dependent on how long they have been paying into the scheme.
You do not need to complete a leaver form for employees under age 55, opting out or deferring their benefits. Find out about how to process employees opting out.
Exceptions
Pension benefits can only be released for members under age 55 on grounds of Ill health or to an employee’s beneficiaries in the event of death in employment.
You need to tell us about these types of leaving by completing the online leaver form and uploading the completed form to the employee’s i-Connect record.
Tell us about an employee leaving
Vesting period
The LGPS vesting period requires its members to have two or more years of service to qualify for pension benefits.
If the employee meets the vesting period:
When your employee who is under 55 leaves the pension scheme, if they’ve met the vesting period, their benefits will be deferred (put on hold).
Their pension benefit would be deferred until the day before their normal pension age (NPA), or until they elect to take their benefits after age 55 but before their NPA. The member can also apply to transfer their benefit to another pension scheme.
If the employee doesn’t meet the vesting period:
Avon Pension Fund will check for any other LGPS service that might qualify them. In some cases, they may meet the vesting period with less than two years of service.
If they do not qualify, they will receive a refund of their contributions, which we will arrange.
Do not process refunds through payroll unless the employee has opted out of the scheme with less than 3 months service.
Leavers over age 55
Employees over age 55 can leave the scheme for the following reasons:
- Leaving with deferred benefits.
- Voluntary retirement.
- Flexible retirement.
- Redundancy or efficiency retirement.
- Ill health retirement.
- Employee has reached age 75.
- Opting out of the Scheme.
You need to tell us about these types of leaving by completing the online leaver form and uploading the completed form to the employee’s i-Connect record.
If there is a change to a employees final pay, for example a back dated pay award, you need to submit a new leaver form. This leaver form should be uploaded to i-Connect using the 'Revised leaver form' option.
Tell us about an employee leaving
If the employee is opting out of the scheme you do not need to provide a leaver form. Find out about how to process employees opting out.
If the employee is retiring:
Providing they’ve met the LGPS vesting period of two years or more, our member services team will issue the employee with a retirement pack. The pack includes their retirement options and the forms for them to complete to put their pension into payment.
They can also choose to defer their benefits at this stage.
If the employee is not retiring (pension record will be deferred):
If the employee has met the two-year vesting period but decides not to retire, their pension benefit would be deferred (put on hold). Their pension benefit would be deferred until the day before their normal pension age (NPA) birthday, or until they elect to take their benefits after age 55, but before their NPA. The member can also apply to transfer their benefit to another pension scheme.
If they haven’t met the vesting period, Avon Pension Fund will check for any other LGPS service that might qualify them. In some cases, they may meet the vesting period with less than two years of service. If they don’t qualify, they will receive a refund of their contributions, which Avon Pension Fund will arrange with them.
Do not process refunds through payroll unless the employee has opted out of the scheme with less than 3 months service.
