Under the LGPS, if you get divorced or your civil partnership is dissolved:
- your ex-spouse or ex-civil partner will stop being entitled to a spouse’s or civil partner’s pension should you die before them.
- any children’s pension payable to an eligible child in the event of your death will not be affected by your divorce or dissolution.
- If you have said that you would like your ex-spouse or ex-civil partner to receive any lump sum death grant payable on your death by completing and returning an expression of wish form, this will remain in place unless you change it.
In proceedings for divorce, judicial separation or nullity of marriage, or for dissolution, separation or nullity of a civil partnership, you will be required to obtain the cash equivalent value of your pension rights from the administering authority which the Court will take into account in the divorce or dissolution settlement.
The Court may offset the value of your pension rights against your other financial assets in the divorce / dissolution settlement or it may issue a Pension Sharing Order.
If the Court issues a Pension Sharing Order part of your benefits are transferred into your ex-spouse's or ex-civil partner's possession.
Your pension, your lump sum and the contingent spouse's / civil partner’s pension, but not the contingent children's pensions, will be reduced accordingly, and your ex-spouse / ex-civil partner will hold benefits in his / her own right which can be left in the Scheme to be payable from, normally, age 65, or can be taken on or after age 55 and before age 65 with a reduction for early payment, or transferred to another qualifying pension scheme.
The Government has announced that the earliest age your ex-spouse / ex-civil partner can take their pension will increase from age 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028.
The reduction to your benefits is known as a pension debit. The amount of the pension debit will be increased in line with the rise in the appropriate cost of living index(es) between the date the debit was first calculated and the date your benefits are paid. When your benefits become payable, the revalued amount of the pension debit will be deducted from your retirement benefits in accordance with guidance from the Government Actuary.
You may be able to pay additional voluntary contributions or contribute to a concurrent personal pension plan or stakeholder pension scheme in order to make up for the benefits 'lost' following a pension share.
All correspondence received by the administering authority in connection with divorce or dissolution proceedings will be acknowledged in writing. If you do not receive an acknowledgement, you should contact the administering authority to ensure that it has received your correspondence.
The cost of supplying information and complying with any court order imposing obligations on the LGPS will be recovered from you and/or your ex-spouse or ex-civil partner in accordance with a schedule of charges published by the administering authority.