On taking up your employment you will be asked to give details about any previous membership of a pension scheme and to indicate whether or not you would like the fire and rescue authority to explore the possibility of a transfer of pension rights into FPS 2015.
FPS 2015 can accept a transfer from:
- another occupational pension scheme registered with HM Revenue and Customs,
- a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme,
- or a personal pension scheme.
Depending upon the type of pension scheme from which the transfer is requested, certain restrictions and time limits may apply – the fire authority will advise you of these and of any other information needed from you, or to be provided by the other scheme about the potential transfer payment. An application for a transfer must be made in writing. The authority would provide you with an illustration of the amount of pension which could be added to your pension account. You should compare this with any pension options offered by your previous scheme and decide, within the time limits, whether or not you wish the transfer to proceed.
If you previously worked for a non-English fire and rescue authority, a transfer of previous pension rights would be made under similar principles to those outlined above.
It may be, however, that you are moving from one employment with an English fire and rescue authority to employment with another. Again, upon taking up your new employment you should inform your new authority of the pension rights held by your former authority (even if there has been a break between employments).
Provided that any break has not been greater than five years your former authority will provide you with a certificate showing the entries in your pension account(s) held by them and your new authority will transfer the details to the pension account(s) which they set up for your new employment. But no transfer payment will be made between the authorities.
Special provisions are made if the break has been greater than five years and you wish to transfer an ‘added pension account’ as defined under Payments for Added Pension, or if you have accounts in respect of more than one employment.
Your authority will give you more detailed information if these circumstances apply. If you think that the account details that have been transferred are incorrect because of an inaccuracy in the certificate you should raise the matter with your former authority. Failing satisfaction you would have a right of appeal under Internal Dispute Resolution Procedures. Details can be found on the Help with pension problems page.