What is a deferred benefit
If you have left your employment, or opted out while still employed and not yet at retirement age, the pension you have built up stays in the Oxfordshire Pension Fund until:
- you decide to transfer it to another pension scheme
- you are eligible, and request to draw your pension.
This pension is known as a deferred benefit.
Telling you about your options
When Pension Services know you have left your job – we rely on your employer for this information - we will tell you about your options on leaving.
After that, every year, we send a statement to show the current value of your deferred benefit.
The value on the statements is as if you could take that pension, unreduced on the statement date.
However, the amount we can pay may be less if you request an early payment of pension before your normal state pension age. Conditions and the process for early payment will vary according to the set of regulations in operation when you left the scheme
Annual review and statement
We review deferred pensions every year. We will adjust the value in line with the consumer price index at the same rate we apply to pensions in payment.
Your statement will be available for 31 August every year, online at your My Oxfordshire Pension record or posted to your home address
Newsletter for deferred members
The 2019 newsletter (pdf format, 605Kb) is produced in collaboration with other LGPS funds.
My Oxfordshire Pension your secure on-line pension record
Your annual statements, newsletters and increasingly correspondence will be available on your record. Pension Services will email you when new information is waiting for you.
Find out more at My Oxfordshire Pension where you will also find a set of frequently asked questions. Alternatively, if you wish to register to keep contact by post to your home address, go to our Forms and guides page and click on 'Register for paper notices'.
Your information and fair processing notice
Every two years our pensioner payroll and deferred pensioner data is matched with secure national computer system. The Cabinet Office currently requires us to participate in its anti-fraud initiative. For this initiative, we provide details of deferred pensioners so that they can be compared to information provided by other public bodies. This will ensure, for example, that no pensions are due to be paid to persons who are deceased or no longer entitled, and that the benefits are paid accordingly to any descendants.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell you about changing address details
It is your responsibility to tell Pension Services when you change your address. When an annual statement is returned to us, undelivered, we will not send out further statements until you tell us your new address.
I have rejoined LGPS or have been automatically enrolled into the LGPS by my employer
If you join the LGPS again after 31 March 2014, and the gap between membership of any public services pension scheme is less than five years, the periods of LGPS membership should be linked automatically to your new pension. You must declare any membership you have with a public sector pension scheme, when you rejoin the scheme in the future to start the transfer arrangements.
You can decide to keep periods of LGPS membership separate, but you have to make a formal decision to Pension Services within 12 months of starting your new job. This is also the rule when changing jobs with the same employer.
If you have a deferred pension and also contribute to the LGPS in another employment there would not be two death grants should you die in service. Pension Services must make full enquiries with the other funds where you may have a LGPS pension record to assess which fund will make the death grant payment.
Newsletter for deferred members
The 2019 newsletter (pdf format, 605Kb) is produced in collaboration with other LGPS funds.
2018 Statement available online
For those members registered for the My Oxfordshire Pension the 2018 Statement will be available for you online after August 2018. And this site will become the primary source for our fund communication with you.
However if this is not a service you want or able to use, you can register with Pension Services to ensure we send your statement by post - details are on this page.