Firefighter Pension Command

Plan your retirement with your own numbers, not a rule of thumb.

Put your biggest levers, the earliest retirement age for your target take-home, pay scenarios, the lump sum decision, tax, the State Pension gap, survivor benefits and the McCloud remedy in one workspace for England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Ask AI about your figures and finish with a briefing you can print or save. £39 once, VAT included, no subscription.

Readiness checkEarliest retirement age55 to 67 grid4 saved plansLump sum break-evenSurvivor benefitsStatement checkAI + printable briefing
01

See your biggest levers in pounds

Retire later, a promotion, part-time years, a contribution band or the lump sum: each re-runs your projection and is ranked by what it changes on your numbers.

02

Find your earliest retirement age

Set the take-home you need and see the earliest age that delivers it on the pension alone, and once State Pension starts.

03

Compare 55 to 67 and save four plans

Same pay, service and assumptions across five ages with reductions, lump sums and take-home, plus saved plans to compare side by side.

04

Decide on the lump sum with the break-even

See the tax-free cash, the pension you give up, the age it breaks even, which limit binds and what it does to your partner's pension.

05

See income across retirement and survivor benefits

Take-home before and after State Pension age, the pension increase you assume, and the death grant and survivor's pension for England FPS 2015.

06

Check your statement, ask AI, print a briefing

Compare your annual benefit statement with the model, ask questions answered from your own figures and print a briefing with a cover page.

Honest scope: this is an independent model, not a scheme quote and not advice. It projects from your inputs and stated assumptions. Your annual benefit statement, remediable service statement and administrator's quotation control the real figures. Start with the free pension calculator; it stays free.

Your details

Live results

Scheme

Nation
FPS 2015 accrual: 1/59.7 of pensionable pay a year. Normal pension age 60.

Pay, service and retirement

NJC rates from 1 July 2026. LFB has its own scale. Scotland and NI may differ: enter your own figure.
£
Full-time pensionable pay, not gross pay including overtime.
yrs
yrs
Whole and part years
60
25 years from now. Age 60 is the normal pension age.
Advanced: assumptions, statement balance, contributions

Assumptions (not forecasts)

2.5%
Pay awards plus progression. Applied to pensionable pay.
3.0%
Earnings-linked. The April 2026 figure was 4.8%; it changes every year.
2.5%
Also used as the yearly increase to pension in payment (CPI).

Pension built so far

Estimated from your pay, growth and revaluation assumptions. Your statement figure is more accurate.

Contributions

%
England band for your pay (from 1 Apr 2026).
Free previewTwo ages, free
Retire at 60£43,664 a year
Retire at 55£25,872 a year20% early-retirement reduction
That is the free part. The full analysis for this tab is below: unlock it to see everything on these same inputs.

Illustrative planning estimate based on published rules, not financial, legal, pension or tax advice. Your payroll record, contract and scheme administrator control your actual position.

What the price pays for

The free calculator answers the first question: what pension am I building? Pension Command answers the decisions that follow. When should I go, at what cost? Does a promotion or a part-time spell change the answer? Should I take the lump sum? How much will I actually take home, and what about the years before the State Pension? What should I ask my administrator about McCloud? Each panel uses the same inputs, so changing your pay or retirement age updates everything at once, and the readiness check and earliest-age solver tell you which change matters most.

How it stays accurate

The core arithmetic reproduces the published LGA examples: each year adds pensionable pay divided by your nation's accrual figure, and the balance is revalued each 1 April before the new year is added. Nation rules are built in: accrual of 1/59.7 in England, 1/61.4 in Wales, 1/61.6 in Scotland and 1/64.8 in Northern Ireland, normal pension age 55 in Northern Ireland and 60 elsewhere, and each nation's contribution structure. Anything we cannot verify is an editable input with a label, not a hidden constant. Sources are listed on the free calculator page.

Related

Free pension calculator · Lump sum calculator · Pension and lump-sum report · How to calculate your pension · McCloud remedy · Serving bundle

Frequently asked questions

What do I get for £39?

The full Pension Command workspace: a retirement readiness check that ranks your biggest levers in pounds, the earliest retirement age that meets your target take-home, a retirement-age grid for 55 to 67 with lump sums and take-home, three editable pay scenarios and four saved plans to compare, lump-sum break-even with tax-free limits, income across retirement with State Pension and the pension increase you choose, death grant and survivor's pension for England FPS 2015, an annual benefit statement reality check, a McCloud checklist with a request template, unlimited AI questions grounded in your figures and a printable briefing with a cover page that you can save to your account. One payment, no subscription.

What is free?

The free pension calculator at /pensions/calculator/ stays open to everyone: projected pension, today's-money value, an on-track check against your target income with three levers, three retirement ages, the maximum lump sum, contributions, a printable one-page summary and saving your result to a free account, for all four nations and for FPS 2015 with FPS 2006 or 1992 service. Premium adds the ranking, solver, comparison, planning and reporting on top.

How much does it cost and is there a subscription?

£39, one payment, VAT included. There is no subscription and nothing renews. Access is tied to your account, so it works on every device you sign in on, and checkout is secured by Stripe. You can pay as a guest and create a free account afterwards.

What if I buy it and it is not right for me?

Contact us through the contact page with your purchase details and we will look into it. Our terms set out cancellation and refund rights, including your rights if a product is faulty or not as described.

Is this an official pension quote?

No. It is an independent modelling tool using published scheme rules and assumptions you set. Your annual benefit statement, remediable service statement and your administrator's written quote are the official figures and will differ because they use your pay history and service record. The statement reality check helps you see where and why they differ.

Which nations and schemes are covered?

England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for FPS 2015 (each with its own accrual rate, normal pension age and contribution structure), plus FPS 1992 and FPS 2006 legacy slices for England, Wales and Scotland with the double accrual guarantee for FPS 1992. Northern Ireland legacy (2007) service is not modelled. Death benefit figures are verified for England only.

Does it handle the McCloud remedy?

It compares legacy and FPS 2015 pension for the remedy period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022 on your assumptions and shows the better option, and it gives you a checklist and a ready-to-send request for your administrator. It does not replace your remediable service statement, which also covers lump sums, contribution adjustments, interest and tax.

How accurate are the early-retirement figures?

England and Wales use the LGA factors from November 2023. Scotland uses Government Actuary's Department factors dated 2019 and is labelled as possibly superseded, so ages before 60 are not offered in the earliest-retirement solver for Scotland. Northern Ireland has a normal pension age of 55, so none applies. The FPS 2006 slice has no verified factor, so you enter the reduction from your quote. Factors change, so confirm with your administrator.

Where is my data stored?

Your inputs, plans and statement figures are kept in this browser. If you use the AI assistant, your figures (not your name or contact details) are sent to it so it can answer. If you save a briefing or plans, they are stored in your account. Analytics record coarse buckets only, never the amounts you type.

Do I need an account? Can I use it on another device?

You can pay as a guest and start straight away. A free account afterwards keeps your access on every device and lets you save briefings and plans. If you already bought, use Sign in to restore on the unlock card.