Retained firefighters' pension settlement - are you affected?

Were you employed as a retained firefighter between 7 April 2000 and 5 April 2006?

At the time, you may have been unable to join the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992 - but you may now be eligible to join a retained modified scheme, or pay more for eligible service.

If you served in Nottinghamshire, please contact Pension Queries if you think you are eligible.

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As detailed in About the FPS 2006 for special members, the original legal settlement under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 only allowed certain retained firefighters with service between 1 July 2000 and 5 April 2006 to become members of the pension scheme. Eligible firefighters were asked whether they wanted to join this scheme in an options exercise which took place in 2014-2015. Elections to join had to be received by 30 September 2015. This was the ‘first options exercise’.

More recently, this judgment was challenged at the European Court of Justice in relation to fee-paid judges. The Court ruled in that case that service going back to the start of employment could be taken into account. The government accepted that the same principles apply to certain retained firefighters, whether they have made a legal claim or not.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was agreed by the government, representative bodies, and Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) on 9 March 2022.

What does this mean?

A second options exercise will take place to allow eligible retained firefighters to buy pension service as a special member of the FPS 2006, backdated to the start date of their employment.

How do I know if I'm eligible?

Membership will be open to all such eligible individuals, this includes:

• current firefighters
• Firefighters who have left the service
• Firefighters who have left the service and are in recipt of a pension, and;
• Firefighters who have left the service and are in receipt of ill health retirement benefits

If you are eligible, you do no not need to have made a legal claim to be offered backdated access to the FPS 2006.

Please see the examples below:

Example 1

Q: I left employment as a retained firefighter between 7 April 2000 and 30 June 2000. I was not given an option to join under the first options exercise – will I be eligible this time?

A: Yes, you meet the condition set out in point one above. The earliest in scope date is 7 April 2000. If your employment in the same role is continuous and started before 7 April 2000, you will be given an opportunity to buy service to your original start date.

Example 2

Q: I was eligible for the first options exercise as I had retained service within the period 1 July 2000 and 5 April 2006, however, my retained service started before 1 July 2000 – will I be eligible for the second options exercise?

A: Yes, you meet the condition set out in point two above. The earliest in scope date is 7 April 2000. If your employment in the same role is continuous and started before 7 April 2000, you will be given an opportunity to buy service to your original start date.

Example 3

Q: I was eligible for the first options exercise as I had retained service within the period 1 July 2000 and 5 April 2006 only - will I be eligible this time?

A: If your FRA sent you a statement of service in the first options exercise you had an opportunity to join previously. This means that you may not be in scope for the second options exercise.

If your FRA only sent you an initial letter asking you to express your interest and did not provide you with a statement of service, you may be in scope this time.

What will I be entitled to?

Eligible retained firefighters will be able to buy pension service as a special member for some or all their employment between 7 April 2000 and 5 April 2006, as well as any continuous employment up to 7 April 2000 and/ or any continuous employment from 5 April 2006.

A retained firefighter transferring from one FRA to another without a break in service will be treated as having continuous employment with the second FRA.

When will I be contacted about my options?

The Government laid the legislation on 1 October 2023 to enable the second RDS options exercise to commence which is envisaged to last for a period of 18 months. The Service has issued information packs to those individuals who have been identified as being in scope for the exercise.