Pension arrangements

The Authority currently administers five occupational pension schemes. There are four schemes for firefighters: 

  • the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992 (FPS) (closed to new entrants from April 2006) 
  • the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 2006 (NFPS) (closed to new entrants from April 2015) 
  • the Modified Scheme 1992/2006 (specific to retained firefighters who served between 1 July 2000 and 6 April 2006) 
  • the Firefighters’ CARE Pension Scheme 2015 (FPS 2015) 

However, with effect from 1 April 2022, all firefighters/employees in any of the first three pension schemes were automatically be moved to the FPS15 scheme, as all these schemes other than the FPS15 are now closed. The employee contribution rates effective from 1 April 2023 for the FPS15 range between 11% to 14.5%, whilst the employer rate is currently fixed at 28.8%. However, the employer rate will increase to 37.6% from April 2024. 

Each scheme includes discretions which the employer decides how to apply. In November 2014 the General Purposes Committee approved an overarching Pensions Policy which defined five key principles, each of which the Chief Executive must ensure is considered before applying any such discretions on behalf of the Authority. This Policy will be reviewed in 2024, once the new pension regulations are in place and the key principles will be refreshed to reflect the revisions to the pensions legislation following the McCloud/Sargeant case. 

Green Book colleagues have the right to belong to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The employee contribution rates for this scheme currently ranges from 5.5% to 12.5% depending on salary level. However, the employee does have a right to choose to reduce to 50/50 contribution, i.e. reducing their contribution to half, but this does have an impact on their benefits. The employer contribution rate will increase from 16.5% to 17.5% from the 1 April 2024. 

A new Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS 2014) came into effect on 1 April 2014. This Scheme is a ‘Career Average Revalued Earnings’ (CARE) Scheme, unlike the original LGPS which is a final salary scheme. The new LGPS 2014 scheme introduced five employer discretions which were agreed by the General Purposes Committee in November 2014. Generally, these discretions lead to enhanced benefits to scheme members, but result in additional costs which fall to the Authority and not to the pension scheme.

Loading...