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The Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2015 (FPS 2015) is a career average revalued earnings (CARE) pension scheme introduced on 1 April 2015.

This scheme replaced the previous final salary pension schemes for firefighters - FPS 1992 and FPS 2006. 

Ten reasons to be a member of the scheme

• A guaranteed public service CARE pension that remains one of the best available
• A tax-efficient way of saving for retirement
• Your fire authority pays in too 
• Retirement with benefits paid in full from age 60 that increase automatically with the cost of living
• The right to retire voluntarily from age 55, subject to reduction of benefits
• The ability to exchange part of your annual pension for a one-off, tax-free lump sum
• Ill-health retirement benefits if you have to leave work through permanent ill health
• A lump sum death grant of three times your pensionable pay if you die in service
• Benefits for your surviving partner and eligible children if you die
• No hidden fees or charges

FPS members pay between 11% and 14.5% in contributions while active in the scheme.

Contribution rates

The pensionable pay shown, in the case of part-time regular firefighters and retained and volunteer firefighters, is that for a whole-time regular firefighter of equivalent role and length of service. It doesn’t take into account certain reductions in pay, for example during sick leave, or leave of absence.

Your contribution rate is set when you start your membership and then at the start of each scheme year (1 April) after that.

If your employment changes during a scheme year or there’s a material change that affects your pensionable pay so that it falls into a different contribution band, your authority will tell you what your new contribution rate is and when it will take effect.

Employer contributions - as determined by the scheme actuary and the secretary of state - are paid by the authority together with any additional costs that have to be borne by the employer, for example relating to ill-health retirement or employer-initiated early retirement.

If you've recently joined the scheme there are three things you should do sooner rather than later:

1. Register for an online pension account
2. Complete a death-grant nomination form
3. Start the process to transfer your other pension benefits, if that's what you want to do. There may be strict time limits so don't delay.

Keeping your contact details and other personal information up-to-date is very important.

Home address
Your FRA will tell us your address. Make sure you tell them if you move.

Email and phone number
You can update these yourself online by logging in to your pension account. You can also call, email or write to us.

Death grant nominations
Make sure you keep your death grant expression of wish (nomination details) and your cohabiting partner details (if that applies to you) up to date. You can read more about these here. 

If you are moving from one English fire and rescue authority to employment with another you can link your pension records together.

When you start your new employment, tell your new authority about the pension rights held by your former authority (even if there has been a break between employments). As long as any break hasn't been greater than five years, your former authority will give you a certificate showing the entries in the pension account(s) they hold and your new authority will transfer the details to the pension account(s) that they set up for your new employment. No transfer payment will be made between the authorities.

There are special rules if the break is more than five years and you want to transfer an 'added pension' account, or if you have accounts for more than one employment. Your authority will tell you more if this applies to you. If you think the account details that have been transferred are wrong because of an inaccuracy in the certificate, please contact your former authority. If you can't resolve the problem you have a right of appeal under Internal Dispute Resolution Procedures.

If you previously worked for a non-English fire and rescue authority, a transfer of previous pension rights happens under similar principles to transfers from other non-FPS schemes.

A transfer can be accepted from another registered pension scheme (approved by HM Revenue & Customs) or a European pensions institution. But a transfer cannot be accepted in respect of pension credit rights awarded as part of a Pension Sharing Order.

Don’t delay – you could lose out!

A transfer usually buys more if it is fully completed within a year of you joining the FPS 2015. And if you decide not to look into a transfer now, your employer or your former pension scheme might not allow it at all later on.

The FPS 2015 is a club scheme. Club schemes (mainly public sector schemes) have a special arrangement that means the transfer credit your transfer buys closely matches the benefits you built up in your former scheme. But a transfer can only be dealt with on a ‘club basis’ if you elect to go ahead within a year of joining the FPS 2015. If you don’t, a transfer can only proceed on a ‘non club basis’ and will probably buy a greatly reduced transfer credit.

Think carefully

Don’t make your mind up about transferring now. The best time to make your decision is when we tell you how much pension the transfer would buy for you.

What do I need to do?

1. You ask for a transfer quote (PDF form). Fill in part A and send it to your previous pension provider)
2. You send the quote to us
3. We send you a quote of what the transfer would buy for you in the FPS 2015
4. You let us know if you want to go ahead
5. Your previous pension scheme pays the transfer value to us
6. We update your pension scheme record and tell you what the transfer has bought for you in the FPS 2015

If you're an active member of FPS 2015 and you want to increase your retirement pension and death benefits, you can buy extra pension in the form of regular or lump sum payments.

There are limits on the amount of extra pension you can buy. If you’re interested and want to find out more, visit the FPS knowledge hub

If you're away from scheme employment because of illness or injury, and receiving pensionable pay and/or statutory pay, you continue to pay contributions at your usual percentage rate on the pensionable/statutory pay that you receive.

If, however, you're not entitled to receive pensionable/statutory pay during your absence, you can pay contributions at your usual percentage rate based on the pay you were receiving immediately before it stopped.

You can pay a lump sum, or by regular installments from pay, as agreed with the authority and within certain time limits. (The authority may also require you to pay the employer contributions that would have been paid but for the absence.)

During child-related leave you pay contributions on whatever rate of pensionable pay you receive (including statutory pay).

If you're not entitled to receive pensionable/statutory pay during a period of ordinary maternity, paternity or ordinary adoption leave, you are treated as if you had paid contributions.

If you're not entitled to receive pensionable/statutory pay during a period of additional maternity, additional adoption leave, parental leave or shared parental leave, you can pay contributions on 'assumed pensionable pay', which is the pensionable pay you would have received if you hadn't taken the leave.

You can pay, within certain time limits, by lump sum or by regular installments from your pay, as agreed with the authority. (They pay employer contributions on the assumed pensionable pay.)

If you have a period of authorised unpaid absence, you can pay contributions at your usual contribution rate on 'assumed pensionable pay', which is the pensionable pay you would have received if it wasn't for the unpaid absence.

You can pay, within certain time limits, by lump sum or by regular instalments from your pay, as agreed with the authority. (They might require you to pay the employer contributions that would have been paid but for the absence.)

If you are absent because of a trade dispute, you can pay contributions on 'assumed pensionable pay', which is the pensionable pay you would have received if it wasn't for the absence.

You can pay, within certain time limits, by lump sum or by regular instalments from your pay, as agreed with the authority. (They might require you to pay the employer contributions that would have been paid but for the absence.)

While on reserve forces service leave you are required to pay contributions on your 'assumed pensionable pay', which is the pay you would have received if it wasn't for the leave (unless you qualify for benefits under another occupational pension scheme during that period).

The contributions may be deducted from any payment made, for the same period, under Part 5 of the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces (Protection of Civil Interests) Act 1951.

Before you start your reserve forces leave your FRA will give you

• a statement showing the assumed pensionable pay for the period of leave
• the contribution rate that applies and details of any payments to be paid by the authority to the member
• the employer contribution rate that applies during that period.

The authority pays employer contributions on the assumed pensionable pay.

The annual allowance is the amount your pension savings can go up in any one tax year before you have to pay an extra tax charge on it.

From the 2023/24 tax year the standard annual allowance amount for most members is £60,000.

But different rules apply if:

• Your taxable income (from all sources) is more than £200,000 (2023/24 rate) in which case a tapered annual allowance may apply to you. Click on the link at the bottom of this page to read more about the taper and how it is worked out.
• You flexibly accessed any of your pension savings in a defined contribution pension scheme or qualifying overseas pension scheme. The Money Purchase Annual Allowance rules may then apply. Click here to read more about the Money Purchase Annual Allowance rules.

Am I likely to be affected by the annual allowance?

Most members won’t be affected by the annual allowance because their pension savings won’t increase by more than the standard £60,000 allowance.

You are most likely to be affected if:

• You have a lot of scheme membership and you receive a significant pay increase
• You pay a high level of additional contributions
• You are a higher earner
• You transfer benefits from another LGPS or public sector pension scheme which may (in some cases) be subject to Final Pay Protection and your pay has increased.
• You have flexibly accessed benefits from a defined contribution pension scheme or qualifying overseas pension scheme.

How will I know if I have exceeded the standard Annual Allowance?

We’ll write to you if your pension savings are more than the annual allowance in any tax year (ignoring any carried-forward allowance from the previous three years) not later than 6 October following the end of the relevant tax year.

You can read more about annual allowance in the knowledge hub here.

New lump sum allowances were introduced from 6 April 2024 to replace the lifetime allowance (LTA) in place since 2006.

The lump sum allowance (LSA) is set at £268,275. It limits the amount of tax-free cash you can take. The LSA is used up when a member takes payment of a relevant lump sum from a pension scheme (if a member takes a trivial commutation or small pots payment these will not impact the LSA). If you have a valid lifetime allowance protection the limit will be higher.

You can read more about lump sum allowances in the knowledge hub here.