Notes to the pension statements

1. The Firefighters’ Pension Fund

The Firefighters' Pension Fund was established for Fire Authorities in England under the Firefighters' Pension Scheme (Amendment) (England) Order 2006.

All Firefighters' Pension Schemes are unfunded, and consequently the fund holds no investment assets. Benefits are payable to pensioners in accordance with the regulations. Benefits payable are funded by contributions from employees and from the Authority, and any deficit in the funding required is met by a top-up grant from the Home Office. If the amounts receivable exceed the amounts payable then the surplus is paid over to the Home Office. Employees' and employer's contribution rates are set nationally by central government and are subject to a triennial review by the Government Actuary's Department.

The fund is administered by the Authority in accordance with the regulations. The primary objective of the Pension Fund Statements is to demonstrate the balance of transactions taking place over the year in order to identify the amount of top-up grant payable from, or surplus payable to, the Home Office.

Details of the firefighters' pension schemes can be found in note 39.

2. Accounting Policies for the Pension Fund

General Principles

The Pension Fund Account and Net Assets Statement summarise the Pension Fund transactions for the 2020/21 financial year and its position at the year end of 31 March 2021. It has been prepared in accordance with the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2020/21.

Accruals

Activity is generally accounted for in the year that it takes place, not simply when cash payments are made or received. This is known as the accruals basis. However, employee and employer contributions are not accounted for on an accruals basis as the effect of doing so is not material. Accruals are shown as debtors and creditors in the Net Assets Statement. In all cases, reasonably accurate calculations of accruals have been possible with the information available at the time of preparing the financial statements.

Administration Costs

The cost of managing pension activities, which includes part of the costs of Human Resources, Payroll and Finance staff as well the cost of pension administration services and actuarial services, are not accounted for within the Pension Fund but are included in the Authority’s Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement.

The Liability to Pay Pensions

The Pension Fund financial statements show the income and expenditure for the year. They do not take account of the liability to pay future retirement benefits. This liability has been assessed by an independent firm of actuaries and is shown in the Authority's balance sheet. Further details of this liability can be found in note 39 to the core financial statements.