The LGPS regulations state that a policy must be completed, approved (by the appointed person/people in your organisation), and published. When the policy is published, it must be made available to your members and the public. You must send us a copy of your discretion policy, and if you make changes, send the revised copy within one month of implementation.   

You can apply discretions to certain groups, posts, all members or on a case by case basis. But, whatever you decide, this must be in your policy. You should always be mindful of discrimination laws if you're applying discretions to certain people/groups. 

If you're considering exercising a discretion that may incur a charge, you should contact us first to find out the cost. This cost will then be re-charged to you.

All LGPS members can transfer in pension benefits from elsewhere within twelve months from starting in their job. We ask members to include information about previous pension benefits on their new member form, so we can tell them about their options before this time limit expires. 

A member wishing to transfer in benefits outside of the twelve-month time limit, can still do so but they must ask for your permission for the transfer to take place. Both you as the employer, and the pension fund as the administering authority must agree to the transfer. You should therefore contact us if you get a request. 

For us to agree a transfer, we must be assured that you have exercised your discretion in line with your policy (if one has been made). We also need to make sure that you are aware of the potential financial implications of allowing the transfer.

Although the discretion on transfers in (out of the twelve months) is not mandatory, we'd advise that you include this in your policy as it's one of the most frequently requested uses of an employer discretion.

Our policy on supporting transfer in requests can be found in the governance compliance statement.

Creating a discretions policy is a complex process. So, to help you along we've purchased a template. 

Our template includes all mandatory and optional discretion's, and gives example wording as to how you may wish to exercise the discretions. This document not only saves you time, but also makes sure that you're compliant with the regulations.  

Please contact us if you'd like a copy of the template. You must not share the template with any third parties.