Contribution adjustments
In this section
Every member that is impacted by remedy will be rolled back to their legacy scheme for their membership during the remedy period (1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022). Due to the differences in contribution rates within the firefighters’ pension schemes, this will trigger a contribution adjustment.
What is a contribution adjustment?
A payment or refund
As part of age discrimination remedy, members that are affected are automatically rolled back to their legacy scheme. This means that rather than being a member of the firefighters’ pension scheme 2015, they would be moved to either the firefighters’ pension scheme 1992 or firefighters’ pension scheme 2006 (standard or special).
The cost, or ‘contribution’ to be in each of these schemes is different. So there would be a difference between what members actually paid as part of 2015 and what they would have paid in their legacy scheme. This difference may be more or less than the contributions actually paid, so would need to be made up /refunded.
How do the contribution rates differ?
Comparing schemes
The contribution rate in each of the schemes is different depending on your salary band.
Were you a member of the firefighters’ pension scheme 1992 or firefighters’ pension scheme 2006 (special)?
As contributions in the firefighters' pension scheme 1992 and firefighters’ pension scheme 2006 (special) were higher than the firefighters' pension scheme 2015, for the period that you are rolled back into the 1992 scheme or 2006 (special) scheme. you will need to pay more contributions to make up the difference.
Were you a member of the firefighters’ pension scheme 2006 (standard)?
As contributions in the firefighters' pension scheme 2006 were lower than the firefighters' pension scheme 2015, for the period that you are rolled back into the 2006 scheme, you will receive a refund of contributions.
Taper members
Some members were moved back to their legacy scheme for the whole of the remedy period (1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022), whilst others were only moved back for part of the remedy period. These members are known as taper members.
For taper members, the contribution adjustment is calculated only on the period of time that they are being moved from 2015 to their legacy scheme.
If you choose to stay in the firefighters’ pension scheme 2015
No changes
If, as part of your remedy choices, you choose to stay in the firefighters' pension scheme 2015 and are not rolled back to your legacy scheme, there will not be any contribution adjustment.
If you have an adjustment
What happens?
All adjustments must be paid in full from a single source. Your adjustment can be paid:
- At retirement from your pension benefits
- When you have made your remedy decision, usually within three months after receiving your annual benefit statement remediable service statement (ABS RSS).
In both circumstances, interest on the value of the adjustment is calculated to the date of the payment. Find out more in the interest section.
If you are owed a refund, you can agree with your fire and rescue authority the date you receive the payment. A contribution payment election form is available to help you do this.
If you pay your contribution adjustment before retirement and then elect to make a different remedy decision when you come to retire, your contribution adjustment and interest would be calculated again.
Pensioner and deceased members as at 30 September 2023
You will have 12 months from the date of receiving your remediable service statement to make your decision. Any contribution adjustment would be taken from your pension benefits.
Tax relief
On contributions
When you make contributions to a pension scheme, they receive tax relief. When calculating your contribution adjustment, this tax relief will also be taken into account, based on your tax band when you made the original contribution. You will receive confirmation of the final value of your contribution adjustment before it is paid.
Interest
Making up for passed time
To reflect the time since the original contributions were made and the date your contribution adjustment is paid, an interest amount will also be calculated.
- If you owe money back to the scheme – interest is based on the NS&I direct saver rate.
- If you are owed a refund of contributions – interest is paid at 8% simple interest for the first 28 days and then at the NS&I Direct saver rate after that.
Added pension
What happens?
If you were a member of the 2015 scheme for the remedy period and have been rolled back to one of the legacy schemes, any payments that you made for added pension would be refunded for this period. This is because added pension options are not available in the legacy schemes.