In April 2015, a new pension scheme (called FPS 2015) was introduced. As part of the roll out of the new scheme, some members were given ‘protection’ and remained in their legacy scheme for a set period after April 2015.
After a legal challenge, the courts determined that these protections were age discriminatory and not fair to all members of the pension scheme i.e. younger members in the scheme were missing out on additional years of benefits from the original pension schemes.
The changes introduced from 1 October 2023 aim to give all members the choice of benefits for the remedy period (1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022).
Compensation Claims
When members are returned to their legacy scheme for the remedy period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022, there may be circumstances through the decision making process or becuase of the choice you make, where there may be some loss which could be compensated for.
The Compensation member factsheet is intended to set out the process for making a compensation claim.
Added Pension
Any Added Pension contributions that have been paid during that period into the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 2015 (FPS 2015) must be returned to the member. This is because Added Pension arrangements do not exist in either Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992 (FPS 1992) or Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 2006/Special 2006 (FPS 2006/Special FPS 2006) (the legacy pension schemes) and therefore it is not possible for these types of benefits to form part of the member’s pension benefits in the legacy scheme.
These contributions are to be automatically returned to the member by way of a compensation payment so that the Added Pension benefits accrued within the remedy period can be fully extinguished to comply with the legislation upon rollback to the legacy schemes.
The Added Pension member factsheet is intended for members to explain how the process will work and how the payment it will be made.