When you take your benefits affects what you could receive at retirement:

1. the longer you stay, the longer you continue to earn 1/49th (or 1/98th if you are in 50:50) of your pensionable pay at your state pension age
2. the earlier you leave, the greater the reductions on your benefits for being paid earlier than their normal pension dates will be

Reductions on benefits are shown in our Guide to the LGPS and are based on:

• the period to 65 for your benefits earned up to 31 March 2014 at 1/80th or 1/60th
• whether you have any Rule of 85 protection
• the period to your State Pension Age for benefits earned from 1 April 2014 at 1/49th

For example, the reduction for taking a pension five years before its normal pension age is 22.2%.

You can use the Government's State Pension Age calculator to find out your State Pension Age.

More information and examples of how your benefits are calculated is in using your annual benefit statement to estimate retirement benefits at different dates, our Guide to the LGPS and available from the LGPS member site.