If you leave your employment as a firefighter or opt out of the FPS 2006 for special members and you:
- have at least 3 months' pensionable service or have transferred pension rights into the scheme, and
- are not eligible for immediate payment of an age retirement pension because you are not old enough and/or do not have the required length of service, and
- are not retiring on grounds of ill-health,
then you would be entitled to a deferred pension.
This would be worked out using the basic formula -
annual pension = 1/45 x pensionable service x final pensionable pay
For example, a retained firefighter aged 35 who has been credited with 6 years' pensionable service and whose final pensionable pay would be £28,000 if a whole-time regular firefighter, would be entitled to a deferred pension of –
6/45 x £28,000 = £3,733.33 a year
A deferred pension is normally put into payment at age 60. It can be paid earlier if you become permanently disabled from undertaking regular employment. This is a similar test to that which decides if a serving firefighter would be eligible for a higher tier ill-health award, although there would be no higher tier ill-health pension element paid in this case.
A deferred pension that is put into payment will be increased in line with the Pensions Increase Orders (i.e. "cost of living" increases) that have applied since your date of leaving.
Part of the annual pension can be converted to provide a lump sum – see how much lump sum can I take?
Alternatively, you may be able to transfer your deferred pension to a new employment.