FPS 1992 vs 2006 vs 2015: Firefighter Pension Comparison

The comparison at a glance

The table below brings together the rules published on the LGA’s official member website, the LGA opting-out and retirement factsheets and SPPA’s pre-2015 guide. It concerns the English position unless stated. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own versions with different accrual rates and, in Northern Ireland, a different normal pension age; see the nation guides for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Read across a row to see how a single feature changes between schemes, and down a column to see the shape of each scheme. Detailed guides exist for FPS 1992, FPS 2006 and FPS 2015.

Accrual: how each scheme turns service into pension

Final salary schemes multiply service by a fraction of your pay at, or averaged near, retirement. In the 1992 scheme, the first 20 years earn 1/60 each and years 21 to 30 earn 2/60 each, so 30 years gives 40/60. In the 2006 scheme every year is 1/60, so 30 years gives 30/60, and 45 years gives 45/60. The official website says the 1992 double accrual is protected for 1992 benefits even after the move to FPS 2015.

FPS 2015 uses career average pay. Each year’s pensionable pay divided by 59.7 is added to your pension account, and the account is revalued each 1 April using average weekly earnings while you serve. The how to calculate guide walks through the sums. For a member with 30 years, the final salary approach favours those whose pay rose steeply late in their career; a CARE approach ties pension to every year’s pay, revalued.

To see the difference, apply each formula to the same £40,358 pay for 30 years. FPS 1992 gives 40/60 × £40,358 = £26,905.33. FPS 2006 gives 30/60 × £40,358 = £20,179.00. FPS 2015 gives 30 × £676.01 = £20,280.40 with no revaluation, and about £32,162 with a 3% revaluation assumption. These are illustrations, not forecasts, because real careers, revaluation and pay growth differ.

Retirement ages and reductions

Retirement age is the sharpest difference. FPS 1992 members can take an unreduced pension at 55, or from 50 with at least 25 years’ service under a protected pension age. FPS 2006 standard members reach normal pension age at 60, with reduced early payment from 55. FPS 2015 normal pension age is 60 in England, Wales and Scotland, with reduced early payment from 55.

If you have both a legacy slice and a 2015 slice, the LGA’s November 2023 factsheet says eligibility to retire comes from the final salary scheme: age 50 with more than 25 years’ service (1992), age 55 (2006 special), and age 55 with early reductions (2006 standard). Retire before 55, and your FPS 2015 slice is deferred to State Pension age, or can be paid early from 55 with a reduction. If you retire on 1992 benefits from 55 to 59, the 2015 slice takes an active reduction; the factsheet gave English active reductions of 20% at 55 falling to 4.6% at 59.

This is why two colleagues with the same total service can have very different options. Get a combined quotation that shows each slice at each date, and see early retirement for the trade-offs.

Lump sums and death benefits compared

Both the 2006 and 2015 schemes give £12 of tax-free cash for each £1 of annual pension given up, with the exchange capped at 25% of the pension. The 1992 scheme is different: the factor is taken from a table set by GAD that varies by the age you retire, and between age 50 and 55 with 25 to 29 years’ service the rule is 2.25 times your annual pension. The tax-free limit for most people is the lump sum allowance of £268,275.

On death, FPS 2015 pays three times final pay if you die in service, and the older schemes now rely on that cover for active members. A survivor’s pension is half of the member’s pension in all three, with differences in eligibility: the 1992 scheme pays spouses and civil partners only, while 2006 and 2015 include cohabiting partners, and both apply an age reduction where a partner is more than 12 years younger. See death benefits for details.

For lump sums, commutation and the free lump sum calculator let you test different exchanges.

Who was in which scheme: joining dates and protection

Joining date decides the starting scheme: before 6 April 2006 meant the 1992 scheme, and after that date until 31 March 2015 meant the 2006 scheme. From 1 April 2015 new firefighters joined FPS 2015. Members already in the older schemes on 1 April 2015 could be protected. SPPA’s guide, written for the equivalent Scottish rules, records that 1992 members who were at least 45 on 1 April 2012, or aged 40 or over with 20 years’ service, and 2006 members aged 50 or over, stayed in their old scheme (full protection). Those within four years of the threshold had tapered protection and moved later.

The LGA’s background page says the English regulations gave protection to all members who would be 55 by 31 March 2022, with tapered protection depending on age. Everyone else moved to FPS 2015 on 1 April 2015. Since these protections turned out to be age discriminatory, all protected members moved to FPS 2015 on 1 April 2022, the end of the remedy period. Legacy benefits built before then remain protected, including the final salary link, double accrual and legacy retirement ages.

The protection details above are from Scottish and English sources describing the same UK-wide design, so check your own letter and statement for your specific dates.

The remedy: choosing between schemes for 2015 to 2022

The remedy applies to people who were in pensionable service on or before 31 March 2012, served between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 and had no gap of five years or more. For that seven-year window, affected members are put back into their legacy scheme and offered a choice at retirement between legacy and FPS 2015 benefits, known as the deferred choice underpin. Benefits built before 1 April 2015 or after 31 March 2022 are unaffected.

So the comparison in this guide is not always a fixed fact about your pension. For 2015 to 2022, you may be able to pick the better of two calculations. The choice appears on your annual benefit statement with remediable service statement, and if you make no choice at retirement, the scheme manager decides on the figures in the statement. Read the remediable service statement guide and the McCloud guide.

Three example members and the slices they hold

It helps to see how the joining date and the 2022 move combine. The examples are hypothetical, to show the pattern, and use the rules described above; a real member’s slices depend on protection, breaks in service, retained service and transfers.

A firefighter who joined in 1998 and stayed in service has 1992 benefits up to 31 March 2015 or 2022, depending on protection, and FPS 2015 benefits after that. One who joined in 2010 has 2006 benefits and then FPS 2015. One who joined in 2019 has FPS 2015 only, so no legacy slice and no remedy, unless they had earlier public service that qualifies. Each of the first two will normally have a remediable service statement, and the third will not. Their retirement options differ: the 1998 joiner may qualify for retirement from 50 with 25 years’ service, the 2010 joiner’s legacy slice is unreduced at 60, and the 2019 joiner’s normal pension age is 60 in England.

Your annual benefit statement lists each slice, and the guide on reading your statement shows how to check it. If your statement does not show the slices you expect, ask your administrator to explain, and use the free pension calculator for the FPS 2015 slice.

Which scheme is best? Why the question is usually wrong

Members rarely choose between the schemes for future service, because everyone builds pension in FPS 2015 from 1 April 2022. The real decisions are which slice to take when (retirement age and reduction), how much lump sum to take from each, and, for the remedy period, legacy or reformed benefits. The answer depends on your pay history, length of service and what you plan to do next.

As a rough guide, final salary slices tend to reward members with steep late-career pay rises, while a CARE slice with earnings-linked revaluation tends to reward steady pay growth across a whole career. But that is a tendency, not a rule; the remediable service statement calculates both for you. Use it, alongside the pension calculator, rather than guessing.

1. List every scheme slice you hold and the service dates in each.
2. Get a quotation that shows each slice at every retirement age you might choose.
3. Read the RSS to see legacy and reformed figures for 2015 to 2022, including any contribution adjustment and tax effects.
4. Compare total income and lump sum to a given age, not just the annual pension at 60.
5. Ask about protected pension age and tax before retiring before 55.