Additional pension benefits
In this section
Additional pension benefits ensure that non-regular pay is taken into account when your pension is calculated.
What are additional pension benefits?
Considering non-regular pay
Additional pension benefits were first introduced to cater for the impact on pensionable pay of the phasing out of the long service increment and the introduction of continual professional development payments.
If you are entitled to an long service increment additional pension benefit this will already have been worked out and notified to you by your fire and rescue authority. The value will continue to increase in line with pensions increase orders. It will be paid to you when you become entitled to receive your main firefighters’ pension scheme benefits. No further long service increment additional pension benefits will be awarded.
In the FPS 1992, your pension is calculated using your average pensionable pay. Generally this does not include non-regular pay, such as pay for:
- Allowances to reward additional skills and responsibilities;
- Temporary promotion; or
- Performance related pay that is not included within basic pay.
Your fire and rescue authority will make the final decision about the pay which can be used towards an additional pension benefit or not.
Additional pension benefits ensure that pay like this is taken into account when your pension is calculated.
How are they calculated?
An explanation
To ensure the value of your additional pension benefit keeps up with the cost of living, it is increased each year in line with inflation.
You and your employer will have paid a pension contribution based on the non-regular pay that you received. Every 1 July, the total contributions paid by you and your employer over the previous 12 months are added together. This amount is used to buy an amount of additional pension benefit for that year, using an ‘age related factor’ provided by the Government Actuary’s Department.
Example
Additional pension benefit
The calculation for additional pension benefit is:
Pension contributions (employee and employer) / age related factor = additional pension benefit
When can I take my benefit?
Receiving the benefit
When you retire from the firefighters’ pension scheme 1992, the value of each year’s additional pension benefit is added together and paid at the same time as your main pension.
You also have the choice to take part of you additional pension benefit as a lump sum, in the same way you can with your main pension.