What is Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP)?
As a contributing member of the LGPS, you were ‘contracted out’ of the State Additional Pension prior to 6 April 2016.
This means that while you were contributing to the LGPS, you paid lower National Insurance contributions and did not build up Additional State Pension benefits for that period.
Instead, under the contracting out rules, the LGPS will guarantee to pay you a pension that is at least the same as the pension you would have received had you not been contracted out (and is usually much greater).
For service before April 1997, the pension ‘guarantee’ is known as a GMP; this is because it’s a minimum amount of pension that the EAPF must pay you. This GMP is paid as part of your EAPF pension (and not in addition to it).
Over time, the rules applying to GMPs have changed and, if you attained your State Pension age before 6 April 2016, a GMP built up before April 1988 is treated differently from that built up from April 1988 to April 1997.
You stopped building up GMP from 6 April 1997.
From this date, schemes like the LGPS, instead of guaranteeing to pay a minimum amount of pension, had to provide scheme benefits that were broadly equivalent to (or were better than) a set of criteria chosen by the Government.
Contracting out stopped on 6 April 2016; since this date, you’ve started to build qualifying years towards the single tier State Pension.
If you build up less than 35 qualifying years (the minimum amount required to get the full, single tier State Pension), you may be entitled to a lower amount based on the number of qualifying years you’ve gained (subject to a minimum of 10 years).
The increase that’s applied to GMPs is linked to CPI, though the way it’s paid is different from your main Scheme pension.
How we apply increases to your GMP depends on when you reach State Pension age. If you’re under your State Pension age, we’ll treat your GMP as if it were your main Scheme pension.
If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016:
We’ll apply any GMP increases on 6 April of each year to the GMP you built up after 5 April 1988, up to a maximum of 3% per year. If the pensions increase is above 3%, we’ll pay a GMP increase of 3% and the rest of the increase will be paid with your state pension.
We don’t increase the GMP you built up before 6 April 1988. Any increases due on this benefit will be paid with your state pension.
If you reach State Pension age after 5 April 2016, we’ll treat all the GMP you’ve built up as if it were your main Scheme pension and pay pensions increase on all of it.
Irrespective of whether you reached GMP age before or after 6 April 2016, we’ll give a full year’s increase to any GMP you’ve built up after 5 April 1988, even if your pension started part-way through the year.
The April pension payments don’t include a full month of increase.
The pension paid in May each year will show the full monthly change, as we’ve explained earlier in this guide.
If you don’t receive the full increase in your EAPF pension because you’re entitled to a GMP and you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, the difference should be added to your state pension (unless you’re in your first year of retirement and are only due an increase for part of the year).
We’ll always show the starting pension amount on your payslip with all increases shown as a separate cumulative amount, so you can see how your pension is growing.
Our online portal lets you see the information we hold on your individual pension account.
On EAPF Online, you can safely reach out to us using our online contact form and receive direct replies from the EAPF pensions team into your Mailbox.
Online, you also have secure access to:
View and download your P60s and monthly payslips
View and update your personal details
View and your nominated beneficiaries
Your online P60 document is also a His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) approved document which means you can now officially use these when dealing with your tax affairs.
To register for EAPF Online, you’ll need your National Insurance number, a mobile number and a valid email address.
If you haven’t registered for this service yet, visit portal.eapf.org.uk, click ‘Register’ at the top and follow the simple instructions.
If you have any questions about your EAPF pension, you can contact our EAPF pensions team at Capita.
Their contact details are shown on the back page.
Disclaimer - This guide isn’t intended to cover every personal circumstance, nor does it confer any contractual or statutory rights and is provided for information purposes only.
In the event of any dispute over your pension benefits the appropriate legislation will prevail. The EAPF is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) which is governed by the LGPS regulations.
