Official Statistics

Local government pension scheme funds for England and Wales: 2024 to 2025

Published 22 October 2025

Applies to England and Wales

© Crown copyright 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-government-pension-scheme-funds-for-england-and-wales-2024-to-2025/local-government-pension-scheme-funds-for-england-and-wales-2024-to-2025

This statistical release contains information on Local Government Pension Scheme Funds expenditure, income, and membership for the financial year 2024-25 in England and Wales.

1. In this release:

  • Total Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) expenditure in England and Wales in 2024-25 was £19.1 billion. This is an increase of £2.0 billion, or 11.7% compared to 2023-24. This was mainly due to an increase in expenditure on pensions and annuities.
  • Total LGPS income in England and Wales in 2024-25 was £21.7 billion. This is an increase of £1.1 billion or 5.2% compared to 2023-24, mainly due to an increase in investment income.
  • Employers’ Contributions to the LGPS in 2024-25 in England and Wales amounted to £10.1 billion, a decrease of 3.9% compared to 2023-24. This decrease is to be expected after the first year of a triennial review period, where some employers make early payments in the first year. Employees’ contributions to the scheme were £3.2 billion, an increase of 5.8%.
  • The market value of LGPS funds at end of March 2025 was £402.3 billion, an increase of £10.7 billion or 2.7% compared to the end of March 2024.
  • There were 110,678 retirements from the LGPS in 2024-25, an increase of 11,173 or 11.2% compared to 2023-24.

Release date: 22 October 2025
Date of next release: October 2026
Contact: sf3.statistics@communities.gov.uk (Responsible Statistician: Jo Coleman)
Media enquiries: 0303 444 1209 / NewsDesk@communities.gov.uk

2. Introduction

This release has been compiled by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) and provides information on Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds in England and Wales that were collected on the SF3 (Pensions) 2024-25 form. Forms were submitted by all 86 Administering Authorities in relation to 87 funds. This covers all members of the LGPS including the Environment Agency, who have an active fund and a legacy closed fund. Although the Environment Agency is not a local government body, they are a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme. Since the 2022-23 data collection exercise, they have provided data to MHCLG on a voluntary basis and their data are included in the figures for England and Wales shown in Tables 1 to 5. Data prior to 2022-23 are not directly comparable with data from 2022-23 onwards.

Authorities were asked, where possible, to submit their data based on audited accounts. However, due to ongoing delays to local authority audits, 72 funds’ SF3 form data were submitted based on their authority’s provisional accounts. Authorities will be asked to submit revised figures based on their audited figures, if available and significantly different, in Spring 2026.

This release shows data for England and Wales combined. Tables 1-6 of this release are available for England and Wales separately. As the Environment Agency’s funds cover both England and Wales they have been excluded from the England only and Wales only tables.

The SF3 (Pensions) form collects information on Local Government Pension Scheme funds’ income, expenditure, membership, retirements, and other activities. It also shows other associated information for the financial year 2024-25 and changes over previous years.

When looking at the figures in this release it should be remembered that throughout the year there are always staff transferring their pensions into, and out of, the LGPS because they either commence work for an employer who is a member of the LGPS and bring their accrued pension with them, or they move to another employer and take their pension pot with them.

In addition, there will be occasions where staff transfer between LGPS schemes and so there will also be transfers between funds within the LGPS.

3. Special factors affecting the data

Transfers between funds and fund mergers can result in increases in Transfer Values which may make direct comparisons between certain years inappropriate. In this release, break marks (shown in the tables by two vertical lines) indicate that direct comparisons should not be made. Such special factors affecting the data in this release are as follows:

2020-21

During 2020-21, the Pension Fund for Northumberland was merged into the Tyne & Wear Pension fund. The regulations (SI 2020 No. 502) came into force on the 3 June 2020 but backdated to 1 April 2020.

2023-24

In 2023-24, a transfer was made from Hillingdon Pension Fund to Wandsworth Pension Fund following a merger of two employers that had been previously contributing to each fund. This has no real effect on the aggregate figures but was seen in the individual Pension Fund figures.

4. Expenditure: 2020-21 to 2024-25

Table 1 and Chart A provide figures of the expenditure of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

  • Total LGPS expenditure in 2024-25 was £19.1 billion. This is an increase of £2.0 billion, or 11.7% compared to 2023-24. This was mainly due to an increase in expenditure on pensions and annuities.
  • The expenditure on benefits in 2024-25 was £15.4 billion, an increase of 12.0%. Of this, expenditure on pensions and annuities was £12.4 billion, and expenditure on lump sums paid on retirement was £2.4 billion.
  • Disposal of Liabilities was £1.4 billion in 2024-25, an increase or 13.8%, and costs charged to the funds were £2.3 billion, an increase of 8.6%.
  • For England, expenditure in 2024-25 was £17.7 billion, an increase of £1.8 billion or 11.5% on 2023-24. This excludes the Environment Agency which has members in both England and Wales, as do other figures for England or Wales only.
  • For Wales, expenditure in 2024-25 was £1.2 billion, an increase of £160 million or 15.1% on 2023-24.

Table 1: Local Government Pension Scheme expenditure, 2020-21 to 2024-25, England and Wales (all figures £ million)

Year 2020 to 2021 2021 to 2022 2022 to 2023 [Note 1] 2023 to 2024 2024 to 2025
Total expenditure on benefits 11,083 11,541 12,258 13,720 15,361
Of which pensions or annuities 9,225 9,484 10,116 11,298 12,353
Of which lump sums paid on retirement 1,440 1,595 1,654 1,870 2,380
Of which lump sums paid on death 269 275 288 311 340
Of which optional lump sums 142 179 187 233 271
Of which other benefits 7 7 13 8 16
Disposal of liabilities 768 853 928 1,215 1,382
Of which transfer values 767 851 927 1,213 1,380
Of which pensions act premiums 1 2 2 2 2
Costs charged to the funds [Note 2] 1,681 2,023 2,048 2,123 2,307
Of which investment management expenses 1,461 1,784 1,769 1,829 1,976
Of which administrative expenses 148 169 179 201 226
Of which governance and oversight costs 72 71 100 94 105
Other expenditure 23 25 36 41 59
Total expenditure 13,555 14,441 15,270 17,099 19,108

[Note 1] Data from 2022-23 onwards include the Environment Agency’s funds. They are a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme but not a local government body. This means data from 2022-23 and onwards are not directly comparable to prior years.
[Note 2] The total Costs charged to the funds figure for 2020-21 does not equal the sum of the component parts given in the document, ‘Pension funds data table 2020 to 2021’, due to inconsistencies in reporting by one local authority.

5. Income: 2020-21 to 2024-25

Table 2 and Chart A provide figures of the income to the LGPS in England and Wales and the market value of the scheme from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

  • Total LGPS income in England and Wales in 2024-25 was £21.7 billion. This is an increase of £1.1 billion or 5.2% compared to 2023-24, mainly due to an increase in investment income.
  • Employers’ Contributions to the LGPS in 2024-25 in England and Wales amounted to £10.1 billion, a decrease of 3.9%, This decrease is to be expected after the first year of a triennial review period, where some employers make early payments in the first year. Employees’ contributions to the scheme were £3.2 billion, an increase of 5.8%.
  • Investment income to the LGPS in 2024-25 in England and Wales amounted to £7.0 billion, an increase of 18.0%.
  • The market value of LGPS funds at end of March 2025 was £402.3 billion, an increase of £10.7 billion or 2.7% compared to the end of March 2024.
  • For England, income in 2024-25 was £20.1 billion, an increase of £0.9 billion or 4.9% on 2023-24.
  • For Wales, income in 2024-25 was £1.4 billion, an increase of £115 million or 8.9% on 2023-24.

Table 2: Local Government Pension Scheme income and market value of funds, 2020-21 to 2024-25, England and Wales (all figures £ million)

Year 2020 to 2021 2021 to 2022 2022 to 2023 [Note 1] 2023 to 2024 2024 to 2025
Contributions: Employees 2,441 2,558 2,816 3,052 3,228
Contributions: Employers [Note 2] [Note 3] 10,312 7,792 8,444 10,520 10,108
Investment income (gross) [Note 4] 3,711 4,499 5,077 5,910 6,972
Of which dividends receivable 1,827 1,965 2,136 2,159 2,560
Of which interest receivable 194 162 304 533 699
Of which income from property 579 660 686 718 749
Of which other investment income 1,112 1,712 1,952 2,501 2,964
Transfer value [Note 5] 816 1,019 951 1,130 1,345
Other income 43 51 40 58 92
Total income 17,324 15,919 17,328 20,672 21,745
Market value of funds at end of year 337,111 364,042 359,184 391,546 402,259

[Note 1] Data from 2022-23 onwards include the Environment Agency funds. They are a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme but not a local government body. This means data from 2022-23 onwards is not directly comparable to prior years.
[Note 2] Includes employers’ secondary contributions.
[Note 3] An increase in employer contributions is expected every three years, reflecting early payments made by many employers following a triennial review. A decrease in the following year is usual as these early payments are not included. [Note 4] The sum of components for investment incomes does not exactly the total reported due to rounding.

Chart A shows the relative size of different components of the income and expenditure totals in 2024-25. It shows that the majority (65%) of expenditure was on pensions or annuities, and the main source of income was from employer contributions (46% of the total), and investment income was a greater proportion of income than employee contributions.

5.1 Chart A: Local Government Pension Scheme expenditure and income in 2024-25: England and Wales

6. Income and expenditure

Table 3 and Chart B provides a comparison of total LGPS expenditure and income in England and Wales from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

  • In 2024-25, total expenditure was 87.9% of LGPS income.

Table 3: Local Government Pension Scheme total expenditure and income, 2020-21 to 2024-25, England and Wales (all figures £ million)

Year 2020 to 2021 2021 to 2022 2022 to 2023 [Note 1] 2023 to 2024 2024 to 2025
Total expenditure (from Table 1) 13,555 14,441 15,270 17,099 19,108
Total income (from Table 2) 17,324 15,919 17,328 20,672 21,745
Expenditure as a % of income 78% 91% 88% 83% 88%

[Note 1] Data from 2022-23 onwards include the Environment Agency’s funds. They are a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme but not a local government body. This means data from 2022-23 and onwards is not directly comparable to prior years.

Chart B shows the change in income and expenditure over time since 2013-14, with income consistently higher than expenditure. There is a step up in income every three years where employers’ contributions are adjusted following a triennial review. This can then be followed by a decrease, as employers make early payments in the first year. This isn’t apparent in 2024-25, as investment income increases have offset decreases in employers’ contributions.

6.1 Chart B: Local Government Pension Scheme total expenditure and income 2013-14 to 2024-25, England and Wales

7. Membership and employers

7.1 Membership

Table 4 and Chart C provide figures of the membership of the LGPS in England and Wales.

  • At the end of March 2025, the total membership of the LGPS was 6.9 million people. Of this number, 2.2 million are employees who still contribute to the scheme, 2.2 million are pensioners and 2.5 million are former employees who are entitled to a pension at some time in the future.

Table 4: Number of Local Government Pension Scheme members at the end of each year , 2020-21 to 2024-25, England and Wales (all figures in thousands of members)

Year 2020 to 2021 2021 to 2022 2022 to 2023 [Note 1] 2023 to 2024 2024 to 2025
Employees 1,998 2,025 2,103 2,155 2,169
Pensioners 1,849 1,931 2,022 2,098 2,181
Former employees entitled to deferred benefits 2,265 2,343 2,423 2,464 2,481
Flexible retirees [Note 2] 16 18 21 23 25
Total membership of LGPS 6,129 6,318 6,570 6,740 6,856

[Note 1] Data from 2022-23 onwards include the Environment Agency’s funds. They are a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme but not a local government body. This means data from 2022-23 onwards are not directly comparable to prior years.
[Note 2] Flexible retirement defined in Regulation 30(6) to the 2013 LGPS Regulations.

Chart C shows the change in composition of the membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme since 2013-14. The chart shows that all types of members have increased since 2013-14, with flexible retirees and former employees entitled to deferred benefits the largest category since 2016-17. Although numbers increased in 2023-24 for all categories, employees and pensioner numbers were closer than they were in 2022-23.

7.2 Chart C: Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme 2013-14 to 2024-25, England and Wales

7.3 Employers

Data were collected on the type of employer involved in the LGPS. Employers were categorised into one of four groups:

  • Local authorities and connected bodies – e.g. a county council, district council
  • Centrally funded public sector bodies – e.g. an academy, further education corporation, sixth form college or higher education corporation
  • Other public sector bodies – e.g. a National Park Authority. This includes the Environment Agency.
  • Private sector, voluntary sector and other bodies – e.g. a passenger transport executive, an urban development corporation, (and private/voluntary sector organisations).

Table 5 shows the number of employers (which includes admitted bodies) in England and Wales in each of the four groups as reported by pension authorities. It also shows the number of employees, pensioners etc. that are part of the LGPS, by the type of employer.

  • 71.1% (4.9 million) of all the members of the LGPS are covered by local authorities and other connected bodies, though local authorities and connected bodies represent only 16.1% of employers (with 3,555 employers).
  • Private sector, voluntary sector, and other bodies account for approximately a third (34.7%) of all employers (with 7,669 employers) but are responsible for only 4.9% (337,000) of all LGPS members.
  • In total, there were 22,102 employers covered by the Local Government Pension Scheme at the end of March 2025.

Table 5: Number of Local Government Pension Scheme members at the end of March 2025 by type of employer, England and Wales (employer figures unrounded, employee figures in thousands of members) [Note 1]

Employer group Local authorities and connected bodies Centrally funded public sector bodies Other public sector bodies [Note 2] Private sector, voluntary sector and other bodies Total
Total membership of local government pension scheme (Thousands) 4,876 1,390 254 337 6,856
Of which are employees 1,362 644 83 81 2,169
Of which are pensioners 1,729 228 92 132 2,181
Of which are former employees entitled to deferred benefits 1,765 515 79 122 2,481
Of which are flexible retirees [Note 3] 19 3 1 2 25
Total Number of Employers (whole figures) 3,555 9,749 1,129 7,669 22,102

[Note 1] Data from 2022-23 onwards include the Environment Agency’s funds. They are a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme but not a local government body. This means data from 2022-23 onwards are not directly comparable to prior years.
[Note 2] The Environment Agency members are counted only within ‘Other public sector bodies’.
[Note 3] Flexible retirement defined in Regulation 30(6) to the 2013 LGPS Regulations.

8. Retirements from the Local Government Pension Scheme

Table 6 and Chart D provide figures of the type of retirement from the LGPS in England and Wales from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The Environment Agency were unable to provide data on retirements, so are not included in these figures.

  • There were 110,678 retirements from the LGPS in 2024-25, an increase of 11,173 or 11.2% compared with 2023-24.
  • The number of employees having their deferred benefits paid early was 60,987, an increase of 11.7% on 2023-24, and account for over half (55.1%) of the total employees retiring.
  • The number of people leaving the LGPS in 2024-25 due to normal retirement was 40,396, an increase of 2,697 or 7.2%.
  • The number of people leaving the LGPS in 2024-25 due to redundancy remained low even though there was an increase of 1,961 or 51.2% to 5,793.

Table 6: Type of retirements from the Local Government Pension Scheme, 2020-21 to 2024-25, England and Wales [Note 1]

Year 2020 to 2021 2021 to 2022 2022 to 2023 2023 to 2024 2024 to 2025
Redundancy 5,989 5,423 3,053 3,832 5,793
Tier 1, 2 & 3 ill health retirement awards under LGPS 2,739 2,987 3,567 3,390 3,502
Early payment of deferred benefits 49,348 54,139 53,237 54,584 60,987
Normal retirements 24,860 32,168 33,723 37,699 40,396
Total retirements 82,936 94,717 93,580 99,505 110,678

[Note 1] The Environment Agency is not included in the totals because retirement data was not available.

Chart D shows the change over time in different types of retirements since 2013-14 until 2024-25. The chart shows that normal retirements have generally increased year on year, apart from in 2019-20 and 2020-21. The number of early payments of deferred benefits had a step change in 2016-17 and has been relatively stable since, until 2024-25 when there was an 11.7% increase. Redundancies had been falling since 2016-17 until 2023-24 when numbers started to slowly increase. The number of ill-health retirements remains stable.

8.1 Chart D: Type of retirement from the Local Government Pension Scheme, 2013-14 to 2024-25, England and Wales

9. Accompanying tables and open data

9.1 Symbols used

[x] = not available
[z] = not applicable
0 = zero or negligible (e.g. less than 500,000 when data are rounded to millions)

9.2 Rounding

Where figures have been rounded, there may be a slight discrepancy between the total and the sum of constituent parts.

9.3 Tables

Accompanying tables are available to download alongside this release. These include Tables 1 to 6 for England and Wales separately, and data for individual pension administering authorities.

9.4 Open data

These statistics are available in fully open and linkable data formats.

9.5 Technical notes

Please see the accompanying technical notes document for further details.

Information about statistics at MHCLG is available via the Department’s website.

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