Contribute to your pension
- Contributions
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You contribute a percentage of your pensionable pay towards your pension. Your contribution rate is determined by your whole-time pensionable pay for the role that you hold even if you are part time or are a retained firefighter.
2024/25 rates (these rates have remained unchanged since 2018/19)
These rates are applicable from 1 April 2019.
Pensionable pay range Contribution rate Up to £27,818 11.00% £27,819 to £51,515 12.90% £51,516 to £142,500 13.50% £142,501 or more 14.50% Pension contributions receive tax relief which means that your contributions to the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme are deducted from your pay and you are assessed for income tax on the remainder.
- Pension build up
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The 2015 Fire Pension Scheme is a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme. This means that you build up pension one year at a time; pension that you build up is added to your pension account.
The Scheme Year runs from 1 April to 31 March and at the end of each Scheme Year, annual pension worth 1/59.7 of your CARE pensionable pay will be added to your account. This is roughly £16.75 for every £1,000 you earn.
CARE pensionable pay is any pay that you have received during the Scheme Year which you have paid pension contributions on. More information about what is pensionable pay can be found in the guide to the firefighters pension scheme 2015 (England)
Every April, the total value in your pension account that you have built up is increased in line with Average Weekly Earnings (AWE). This increase is set annually by HM Treasury for each Public Sector Pension Scheme.
Example - How a CARE account builds up
CARE pensionable pay = £30,000
AWE = 2.5% (same as multiplying by 1.025)
Pension build up: £30,000 ÷ 59.7 = £502.51
Increase due to inflation: £502.51 x 1.025 = £515.08
Assuming the above pay and AWE remains exactly the same for a period of 10 years:
- after 1 year = £515.08
- after 2 years = £1,043.03
- after 3 years = £1,584.18
- after 10 years = £5,770.59
- Pay more into your pension
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You can choose to pay more into your pension by purchasing additional pension within the 2015 Fire Pension Scheme.
You can purchase additional pension by a lump sum payment or regular monthly payments. The only limit is the amount of pension that you can purchase in the scheme year (1 April to 31 March), this is an amount set by HM Treasury each year. The limit for 2024 to 2025 is £8,570.14.
The calculation uses factors which depend on your age at your last birthday and the number of years before your normal retirement age (age 60). The factors increase each year, meaning that the older you are the more expensive it becomes.
If you would like more information about this option, contact Hampshire Pension Services. You will need to provide the following information to enable a quote to be sent to you.
If you wish to pay by lump sum, state:
- how much pension you wish to purchase or
- how much you wish to pay
If you wish to pay by regular monthly contributions, state:
- how much pension you wish to purchase or
- how much you wish to pay per month as a fixed amount or
- how much you wish to pay per month as a percentage of your pensionable pay
- Transfer in another pension
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A request to transfer pension rights from another public sector service pension scheme must be received by Hampshire Pension Services within 12 months of joining the scheme to ensure that Public Sector Transfer Club (“Club”) terms can be used for the transfer. If the request is received after the 12 month period, then non “Club” terms will be used. These are less favourable than “Club” arrangement terms.
A request to transfer pension rights from a non-occupational scheme (e.g. a private pension) must be received in the first 12 months of pensionable service and will always use non “Club” terms.
To start the process of transferring pension rights from another pension scheme follow the instructions in the Fire Transfer In booklet.
If you have previous membership of the Fire Pension Schemes with any Fire and Rescue Authority, complete the membership option form and return it to Hampshire Pension Services.