Resignation threats cloud new-look LGPS - EXCLUSIVE

One senior industry figure, who preferred not to be named, said a consolidated version of the LGPS (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) Regulations 2007 – produced by Local Government Employers this month and including pages of comments where the group felt changes needed to be made – showed how unworkable rules for the new-look scheme were.

He said: "Morale is so low in some authorities because of the difficulty they are having, trying to operate a system within inadequate regulations that some officers are threatening to resign."

West Midlands Pension Fund chief pensions officer Mike Woodall agreed morale was low and said it was now taking employees 30 minutes to process a retirement quote manually, when it should be being done by the press of a button.

Despite this, South Yorkshire Pensions Authority assistant treasurer David Wilkinson said schemes had to work with what they had.

He said: "The feeling here is one of disappointment rather than anything else but you just have to work with what you have got."

The department of communities and local government said it was assessing the LGE's bulletin but noted the rules were workable.

It added: "We reject any news story which suggests, as this informal non-legally assessed draft document does, that the regulations are so flawed as to be unworkable with adverse effect on local authority staff morale."