From 11 May 2026, councillors and mayors in England are eligible to join the LGPS. This does not include parish and town councillors.
The change is following the government's access and protections consultation and is detailed in The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) (Elected Member Pensions) Regulations 2026.
Elected Members were previously eligible for LGPS membership, however, their eligibility was removed when The Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 came into force from 1 April 2014.
You can find information for councillors, including a form for them to complete to join the LGPS.
As we will need to configure i-Connect (our member data submission portal) for authorities who have elected members that join the LGPS, please submit S1 starter forms for new elected members until we confirm otherwise.
A guide to the administrative changes for employers is attached to this page.
We have hosted a webinar to explain the regulatory changes and have attached the slides of our presentation to this page. You can watch the recording of the webinar on this page or on our YouTube channel.
Links to useful documents