Age Retirement
This award would be payable to a firefighter who has sufficient service to qualify for a pension and who retires at or after age 60. The basic formula is used, i.e.
annual pension = 1/60 x pensionable service x final pensionable pay
For example, a firefighter who has completed 40 years' pensionable service and whose final pensionable pay is £30,000 would receive immediate payment of a pension of –
40/60 x £30,000 = £20,000 a year
For example, a retained firefighter who has served for 25 calendar years has been credited with 14.6047 years of pensionable service by reference to retained earnings and the pensionable earnings of a regular firefighter in a similar role, and assuming that at the date at which the retained firefighter retires with entitlement to an age retirement pension, a regular firefighter in a similar role would have final pensionable pay of £30,000, the assessment of the retained firefighter's pension would be–
14.6047/60 x £30,000 = £7,302.35 a year
Part of the annual pension can be commuted to provide a lump sum if the firefighter wishes – see How much lump sum can I get.
Early Retirement
Authority-Initiated Retirement
This award would be payable to a firefighter who has sufficient service to qualify for a pension, who has reached age 55 but not age 60, and whose fire and rescue authority have determined that he/she should be retired in the interests of the economical, effective and efficient management of their functions. The basic formula is used, i.e.
annual pension = 1/60 x pensionable service x final pensionable pay
For example, a firefighter aged 55 who has completed 10 years' pensionable service and whose final pensionable pay is £27,000 would receive immediate payment of pension of –
10/60 x £27,000 = £4,500 a year
There would be no reduction of the pension to take account of the fact that it is being paid early (the authority would meet the cost of early payment).
Part of the annual pension can be commuted to provide a lump sum if the firefighter wishes – see How much lump sum can I get.
Member-Initiated Retirement
This award would be payable to a firefighter who has sufficient service to qualify for a pension, who has reached age 55 but not age 60, and who voluntarily chooses to retire with immediate payment of benefits. (The fire and rescue authority have not determined that he/she should be retired on grounds of ill-health or in the interests of the management of the service.)
The first part of the calculation uses the basic formula, i.e.
annual pension = 1/60 x pensionable service x final pensionable pay
but then a reduction based on the Scheme Actuary’s guidance is applied to reflect the cost of early payment.
For example, a firefighter who retires at age 58, having completed 10 years’ pensionable service with final pensionable pay of £27,000 and a relevant actuarial factor (at the date of issue of this guide) of 0.689, would have entitlement to a pension assessed as –
(1/60 x 10 x £27,000) x 0.689 = £3,100.50 a year
Part of the annual pension (after reduction) can be commuted to provide a lump sum if the firefighter wishes – see How much lump sum can I get.