FOI Request 2035

Subject: Progress of Retained Firefighters Matthews Second Options Exercise

Status: Complete

Date received: July 2024

Question Asked:

Please provide the following information:

Number of completed Expression of Interest forms received each month from December 2023 to date, broken down by category of:
- Current Firefighters
- Firefighters who have left the service
- Firefighters who have left the service and are in receipt of a pension
- Firefighters who have left the service and in receipt of ill health benefits
- Others
Historic pay scales for rank/role of Firefighter, LFF- Crew Manager, SubO - Watch Manager for each year from 1975 to 2008
Numbers and categories of completed calculations sent to applicants to date, broken down by applicant category and month
Cost of purchasing historic service per £1000 of salary earned for each year from 1975 to 2008 inclusive of tax relief adjustment
Interest rate to be applied for each year of payable pension arrears from 2006 to 2024
Number of Expressions of Interest received requesting costs of converting FPS2006 membership to the Modified Pension Arrangements and how many have been completed and sent out

Our Response:

1. Number of completed Expression of Interest forms received each month from December 2023 to date, broken down by category of:

- Current Firefighters

- Firefighters who have left the service

- Firefighters who have left the service and are in receipt of a pension

- Firefighters who have left the service and in receipt of ill health benefits

- Others

Category	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24	Apr-24	May-24	Jun-24	Jul-24
Current Firefighters	3	5	7	1	1
Firefighters who have left the Service	5	23	24	21	10	16	3	2	2
Firefighters who have left the Service and are in receipt of pension	2	10	5	6	1
Firefighters who have left the Service and are in receipt of ill health benefits*	less than 5
Others	3	1			1

* Due to the small number of cases involved, exact numbers have not been provided to ensure individuals cannot be identified

2. Historic pay scales for rank/role of Firefighter, LFF- Crew Manager, SubO - Watch Manager for each year from 1975 to 2008

Historic pay circulars can be found at Firefighter pay scales

3. Numbers and categories of completed calculations sent to applicants to date, broken down by applicant category and month

Category	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24	Apr-24	May-24	Jun-24	Jul-24
Current Firefighters							5	5	4
Firefighters who have left the Service*				1	25	17	12	13	13
Firefighters who have left the Service and are in receipt of pension						2	2	10	9
Firefighters who have left the Service and are in receipt of ill health benefits**								less than 5
Others							2		1

*These numbers include people who are eligible to be pensioner members but who aren’t currently in receipt of a pension

**Due to the small numbers involved, exact numbers have not been provided to ensure individuals cannot be identified

4. Cost of purchasing historic service per £1000 of salary earned for each year from 1975 to 2008 inclusive of tax relief adjustment

Year	Cost to Purchase this year of service only inclusive of tax relief adjustment and interest (as at 31/07/2024)
1975 - 1976	£742.08
1976 - 1977	£688.62
1977 - 1978	£644.62
1978 - 1979	£601.72
1979 - 1980	£578.95
1980 - 1981	£527.70
1981 - 1982	£500.10
1982 - 1983	£419.01
1983 - 1984	£406.79
1984 - 1985	£376.71
1985 - 1986	£347.41
1986 - 1987	£326.16
1987 - 1988	£311.12
1988 - 1989	£298.31
1989 - 1990	£277.58
1990 - 1991	£256.60
1991 - 1992	£235.57
1992 - 1993	£218.14
1993 - 1994	£205.78
1994 - 1995	£194.97
1995 - 1996	£184.29
1996 - 1997	£176.99
1997 - 1998	£170.24
1998 - 1999	£162.35
1999 - 2000	£156.29
2000 - 2001	£151.87
2001 - 2002	£146.41
2002 - 2003	£141.65
2003 - 2004	£137.67
2004 - 2005	£133.30
2005 - 2006	£129.31
2006 - 2007	£125.49
2007 - 2008	£121.28

5. Interest rate to be applied for each year of payable pension arrears from 2006 to 2024

Regulation 1A(9) of Part 3 of The Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (England) (Amendment) Order 2014 outlines:

“(9) The interest payable in accordance with paragraph (8) is payable as follows—

(a)for the purposes of calculating interest under this paragraph it shall be assumed that the past pension payments were payable from the date that the member reached normal retirement age;

(b)interest starts to accrue from the date that the first past pension payment would have been made in accordance with sub-paragraph (a) and ceases to accrue on the date of payment of the lump sum in accordance with paragraph (8) of this rule;

(c)interest shall be calculated by applying the past interest rate to the past pension payment compounded monthly between the month each past pension payment would have been made in accordance with sub-paragraph (a) until the date of payment of the lump sum,

and for the purposes of this rule “past interest rate” is a rate equivalent to the interest available on the most recent issue of five-year fixed interest savings certificates from National Savings and Investments available on the 15th day of each month which would have been applicable to the period when the past pension payment in question would have been made in accordance with sub-paragraph (a).”

The Government Actuary’s Department has provided an automated calculator for the purpose of calculating interest, but we do not have visibility of the list of rates that are built into the background configuration of this calculator.

6. Number of Expressions of Interest received requesting costs of converting FPS2006 membership to the Modified Pension Arrangements and how many have been completed and sent out

We have received 13 expressions of interest from members who are eligible to convert service. 11 have been completed and sent.

Outcome: Information Provided

FOI responded to within timescales: YES

Further action: NO

Back to FOI requests

Last updated: Friday, 30 January 2026