There are currently no known outstanding effects for The Firefighters’ Pension Schemes and Compensation Scheme (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024.
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations makes amendments to—
(i)The Firefighters’ Pension Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 (FPS);
(ii)The New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 (NFPS);
(iii)The Firefighters’ Compensation Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 (the Compensation Scheme);
(iv)The Firefighters’ Pension Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (the 2015 Regulations); and
(v)The Firefighters’ Pensions (Remediable Service) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023 No. 133) (“the Remediable Service Regulations”);
Some provisions in these Regulations have retrospective effect – these are set out in regulation 1. The power to give the Regulations retrospective effect is conferred by section 3(3)(b) of the Public Service Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.
Regulations 2, 3(4), 4(3) and 5(6) amend the 2015 Regulations, FPS, NFPS and the Compensation Scheme to remove the requirement for correspondence relating to an individual’s medical appeal to an independent medical referee to be sent through the Department.
Regulations 4(2)(a) – removes the requirement to make advance payments in the FCS for administrative reasons. Regulations 4(2)(b) corrects a minor drafting error.
Regulation 5(2), (3), (4)(a), (b) and (d) amends the 2015 Regulations to provide for early retirement (actuarially reduced) for deferred members once they have reached normal pension age and before they have reached deferred pension age. Regulations 3(2) amends the NFPS and regulation 5(4)(c), (e) and (5) amend the 2015 Regulations to remove the provision for employer initiated retirement and employer additional contributions as they are inapplicable in relation to the NI 2015 Regulations.
Regulation 6(2) and (3) amends the Remediable Service Regulations to correct minor errors. Regulation 6(5) amends regulation 50 of the Remediable Service Regulations, which makes provision about the cases in which a member who met the requirements for an ill-health retirement award in one firefighters’ pension scheme is to be deemed as meeting the requirements in their alternative firefighters’ pension scheme, to include FPS IHR members and NFPS IHR special members. Regulation 6(6) amends regulation 51 of the Remediable Service Regulations, which makes provision about assessing the eligibility of a member for an ill-health award under the reformed 2015 scheme where that member has been granted an ill-health award under their legacy scheme, to reflect that the legacy scheme is the NFPS. The Remediable Service Regulations make provision, further to that in the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 (c. 7) (“PSPJOA 2022”), to remedy the unlawful discrimination on the basis of age that was found to result from the transitional protections afforded to certain cohorts of members of legacy pension schemes (the schemes established FPS and the NFPS).
An impact assessment has not been produced for these Regulations as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.
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