Reporting Pensions newsletter

Your pension to-do list

Five smart steps for your future

Planning for retirement doesn’t have to be overwhelming. A few simple actions now can make a big difference later. Here’s your quick guide to getting your pension plans in shape:

1. Check your LGPS pension

Head to My Oxfordshire Pension to find out about your LGPS pension: https://oxfordshire.pensiondetails.co.uk/

As a member of the LGPS you have what is called a ‘defined benefit’ pension – with a guaranteed ‘final salary’ element if you were in the scheme before April 2014. Since then you have been building up a ‘career average’ pension.

This means your pension pays you a guaranteed income for life in retirement, and its value is determined by how long you’ve been a member of the scheme and the salary you’ve earned when you leave or retire. You can find out how much your pension is worth by logging into your My Oxfordshire Pension account.

2. Track down old pensions

The amount of money sitting in unclaimed, inactive, or lost pension pots in the UK is estimated at over £31 billion.

Is some of that money yours? Here’s how to find out:

• Contact your old pension provider or previous employer and ask if you have a pension with them. Give them your up-to-date contact details and ask them to send you a statement or register for their online portal.
• If you can’t find the provider, you can use the government’s free tracing service https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details.

 3. Add it all up

Once you have information from all your previous pensions, combine them with your LGPS pension. Don’t forget to add in your State Pension – the maximum State Pension for 2025/26 is £230.25 per week. You can check your forecast online here https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension.

Make sure you’ve included any savings or property that you intend to use for retirement. And then look at your grand total…

4. Work out what you’ll need when you retire

Start by listing all your current expenses under different categories, for example rent, household bills, car and other travel expenses, hobbies, groceries etc. Some banking apps do this for you. Look carefully (and honestly) at your list and then adjust for retirement. 

Essentials like mortgage or commuting costs may drop, but don’t forget the fun stuff – holidays, hobbies and treats.

You can use https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/as a guide.

5. Are you on track?

Compare what you have with what you think you’ll need. If there’s a gap, explore ways to boost your LGPS pension. 

Small changes now can make a big difference later. Have a look at https://www.lgpsmember.org/your-pension/paying-in/paying-more/ for some ways to save more for your retirement. 

Take these steps now and give yourself peace of mind for the future. Your pension is one of your most valuable benefits – take control of your financial future!

Bonus step! Complete your nomination form…

While logging into My Oxfordshire Pension to become acquainted with the numbers, you might want to head over to the Nomination Details section too. There, you can tell us who you want us to pay any death benefits to.

Your employer contributions

Here in the Pensions Team, we spend a lot of time talking to individual members about their pensions. We often hear questions like “what is my pension pot worth?” and “how much does my employer pay into my pot?” This is a common misunderstanding about how the LGPS works.

The LGPS is a Defined Benefit scheme, which means there are no individual pension pots. Instead, all contributions are pooled into a shared fund that guarantees your pension based on a formula linked to your salary and length of service.

What does this mean for you?

• Your pension is a promise, not an account balance.
• When you retire you receive a secure, guaranteed income for life – unaffected by market ups and downs.

What about your contributions? 

Think of your contributions like a membership fee – remember, they don’t go into a personal pot. They help keep the scheme running so you can enjoy those guaranteed benefits later.

Employer contributions

In a Defined Benefit scheme like the LGPS, the employer doesn’t pay anything into your personal pot (because there isn’t one). Instead, they pay into a shared fund that guarantees your pension based on that formula. Their contributions, along with investment returns, ensure the scheme can pay the benefits that are promised to you. Employers take on the investment risk so your pension value remains secure.

Employers in the LGPS all pay slightly different contribution rates based on their own profile. Ask your HR or payroll team if you want to know how much your employer pays. On average, employers pay roughly three quarters of the Scheme’s costs, with employees paying a quarter.

You can find more information about how your pension is calculated - 

https://www.lgpsmember.org/your-pension/the-essentials/key-features/

Changes to My Oxfordshire Pension

Can you believe it is nearly 8 years since we rolled out our member portal My Oxfordshire Pension? We are now working on upgrading My Oxfordshire Pension and you are likely to see some changes early in 2026.

Not only will the portal look more modern and be more user-friendly, but you will also have additional functions and views, and the security of your data will be updated and strengthened.

As we are upgrading cyber-security, you are likely to be asked to go through some new security steps when you log in – this should be easy to do, but our teams will be on hand (in office hours) to help if there are problems.

Just a quick heads-up: If you and your partner both have accounts on My Oxfordshire Pension and you share the same email address, one of you will need to use a different email. Our new system doesn’t allow two accounts with the same email for security reasons

Useful links

National LGPS members website - www.lgpsmember.org

Detailed scheme member guide Oxfordshire Pension Fund - www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/pensions

Legal and General – top up your pension Fund -www.legalandgeneral.com/oxfordshirepensionfund/

Advisory services

Money Helper - https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en

The Pensions Regulator - www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/

State pension planning and forecasts - https://www.yourpension.gov.uk/

Be ‘scamsmart’ – find out more on how scammers work and get advice on the FCA’s website - https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/pension-scams

Find us on LinkedIn!

You can now follow us here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/oxfordshire-pension-fund/