Protection for those within 10 years of retirement
There will be statutory based transitional protection for certain categories of members, as follows:

• all active 1992 scheme members who, as at 1 April 2012, had 10 years or less to age 55 will see no change in when they can retire, nor any decrease in the amount of pension they receive at their current Normal Pension Age - this protection will be achieved by the member remaining in their current scheme until they retire
• all active 2006 scheme members who, as at 1 April 2012, had 10 years or less to their current Normal Pension Age (ie age 60) will remain in their current scheme until they retire

If you fall outside that 10 year transitional protection
Scheme members who, on 1 April 2012, are within 4 years of qualifying for transitional protection (as described above) will continue to accrue pension in their existing schemes on a tapered basis. They gain about 53 days of protection in their existing schemes for every month they are above the lower limit that applies in their case. The last possible day of protected service for any such member will be 31 March 2022.

This will apply to active members:

• in the 1992 scheme who on 1 April 2012 are aged between 41 and 45 years
• in the 2006 scheme who on 1 April 2012 are aged between 46 and 50 years

Once a member's tapered protection expires, they will be transferred into the new pension scheme.

Members qualifying for tapered protection will be able to take their "Part 1" pension at the age at which they were expecting. After members are transferred into the new pension scheme, they will accrue their "Part 2" pension in that scheme.

The link below will take you to a calculator on the Gov.uk website that will allow you to calculate not only your protection, but also the 2015 benefits you can expect to receive if you are due to enter the 2015 scheme.

Link to the Government Fire Pension reform calculator