This section of the website is for Firefighters who joined the Fire & Rescue service between 6 April 2006 and 31 March 2015, or who elected to transfer their accrued Firefighters Pension Scheme 1992 (FPS 1992) benefits to the FPS 2006 in 2006 / 2007 during the national Options Exercise.
FPS 2006 operates on a final salary basis which means that your pension benefits are based on your pay at the time you leave the force and your length of service.
All new recruits to the Fire & Rescue service between 6 April 2006 and 31 March 2015 became members of FPS 2006, unless they opted-out of the scheme.
A Fire & Rescue authority has discretion to retire a firefighter on medical grounds. In common with other leading public sector pension schemes, there are two levels of ill-health pension:
The level of disability is determined by a doctor and there are appeal rights against medical decisions. Both types of pension will be increased for inflation for as long as they are paid. Fire & Rescue authorities have discretion to review the payment of ill-health awards at intervals.
Even if you are judged to be disabled, it does not automatically follow that you will be granted ill-health retirement. The Fire & Rescue authority will consider whether there are alternative duties that you could perform and still remain in the service (taking account of your overall capabilities).
There are separate arrangements for the payment of injury awards to firefighters who suffer injury on duty, which are outside the pension scheme.