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Injury and compensation
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If you are injured whilst on duty, the firefighters’ compensation scheme may provide a lump sum payment (known as injury gratuity) and injury allowance. These payments are on top of any ill health pension you may be eligible to from the firefighters’ pension scheme.
If you have both a wholetime and retained job, benefits would only be paid for the job in which you suffered the injury.
Who is covered?
Injured firefighters
The following employees and dependants can apply for the compensation scheme:
- whole-time/part-time firefighters
- retained firefighters
- volunteer firefighters
- other employees of a fire and rescue authority (only in certain circumstances and at the discretion of the authority)
- firefighters undergoing reserve forces service.
If a firefighter dies due to the effects of their injury, an injury award may be paid to:
- a surviving spouse, civil partner, or child of a firefighter
- a dependent relative of a firefighter (at the discretion of the fire and rescue authority)
There is no minimum or maximum age.
What is an injury?
Eligibility
To be eligible to make a claim under the compensation scheme, you must:
- Have retired; and
- Be permanently disabled as a result of a qualifying injury.
Your fire and rescue authority will appoint an independent qualified medical practitioner to assess your injury.
Injury gratuity
Lump sum payment
This is a lump sum based on a percentage of your final pay (usually your actual pensionable pay in the last 365 days of your service).
The amount you receive will depend on the extent of your disablement (as determined by the independent qualified medical practitioner):
| Degree of disablement | Gratuity |
| Slight disablement | 12.5% of final salary |
| Minor disablement | 25% of final salary |
| Major disablement | 37.5% of final salary |
| Severe disablement | 50% of final salary |
Injury pension
A minimum income
As injury pensions are provided as a ‘top up’ to other benefits you receive, your injury pension may be reduced by:
- 75% of any pension in payment, based on the amount before you gave up any pension to provide for a lump sum, OR 100% if you opted out of the pension scheme.
- Any state benefits that you are entitled to which relate to your injury.
If your income already meets or exceeds the minimum amount, you would not be eligible to receive an injury pension.
Once in payment, injury pensions are increased each year to keep up with the cost of living.
An independent qualified medical practitioner may review your health to check you are still entitled to an injury payment and adjust the value if your injury has improved or worsened.
The purpose of an injury pension is to provide a minimum income level and is designed to act as a ‘top up’ to any state benefits that you are entitled to.
It is based on:
- The extent of your disablement
- A percentage of your final pay
- The amount of service you have built up
|
Degree of disablement |
Pension as a percentage of ‘final pay’ |
|||
|
|
Less than 5 years’ service |
5 or more but less than 15 years’ service |
15 or more but less than 25 years’ service |
25 or more years’ service |
|
Slight disablement
|
15% |
30% |
45% |
60% |
|
Minor disablement
|
40% |
50% |
60% |
70% |
|
Major disablement
|
65% |
70% |
75% |
80% |
|
Severe disablement
|
85% |
85% |
85% |
85% |
Appealing a decision
If you don't agree
If you do not agree with a decision that has been made about your injury, you have the right to appeal. You should speak with your fire and rescue authority in the first instance.