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’ Pension Scheme 2015 (FPS 2015)

The employee contribution rates effective from 1 April 2020, determined by statute, currently range from 11.0% to 17.0% for the FPS, 8.5% to 12.5% for the NFPS, 11.0% to 17% for the Modified 2006, and from 11% to 14.5% for the FPS 2015, depending on salary level. Employer contribution rates are 37.3% for FPS, 27.4% for NFPS 37.3% for Modified 2006, and 28.8% for FPS 2015 of core pensionable pay respectively. The employer’s contributions were significantly increased in April 2019 due to the re-evaluation of the schemes.

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 2021 and the key principles will be refreshed considering changing pensions legislation.

Green Book staff have the right to belong to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The employee contribution rates for this scheme currently range 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 increased from 12.5% to 13.5% from the 1 April 2020.

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.