2014 No. 108

Fire Services
Pensions

The Firemen’s Pension Scheme (Amendment No. 2) (Scotland) Order 2014

Made

Laid before the Scottish Parliament

Coming into force

The Scottish Ministers make the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 26(1) to (5) of the Fire Services Act 19471 and all other powers enabling them to do so.

Citation, commencement and extent1

1

This Order may be cited as the Firemen’s Pension Scheme (Amendment No. 2) (Scotland) Order 2014 and comes into force on 23rd May 2014.

2

This Order extends to Scotland only.

Amendment of the Firemen’s Pension Scheme Order 1992

2

Schedule 2 to the Firemen’s Pension Scheme Order 19922 (in which the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme is set out) is amended in accordance with articles 3 to 5 of this Order.

3

In Schedule 1 (interpretation), in Part 1 (glossary of expressions)—

a

after the entry for the expression “mixed-rate service”—

i

in the first column, insert “New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland)”; and

ii

in the second column, insert “the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) set out in Schedule 1 to the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) Order 2007”;

b

in the entry for the expressions “retained firefighter” and “volunteer firefighter”—

i

in the first column, omit “and volunteer firefighter”; and

ii

in the second column, after “regular firefighter” insert “or as a volunteer firefighter”; and

c

after the entry for the expression “tax year”—

i

in the first column, insert “volunteer firefighter”; and

ii

in the second column, insert—

A person employed by an authority—

a

as a firefighter but not as a regular firefighter or as a retained firefighter;

b

on terms under which that person is, or may be, required to engage in firefighting or, without a break in continuity of such employment, may be required to perform other duties appropriate to his or her role as a firefighter (whether instead of, or in addition to, engaging in firefighting);

c

otherwise than in a temporary capacity; and

d

who is obliged to attend at such times as the officer in charge considers necessary, and in accordance with the orders that he or she receives.

4

In Schedule 6 (pensionable service and transfer values), in Part 4 (amount of transfer value)—

a

in paragraph 2, for “Where” substitute “Subject to paragraph 7, where”;

b

after paragraph 6, insert—

7

Where a transfer value is payable to the scheme managers of the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) in the case of a person who—

a

immediately after the termination of employment as a regular firefighter on or after 1st July 2000, took up employment as a retained firefighter;

b

has elected to become a special firefighter member of the New Firefighters’ Pension scheme (Scotland) under rule 1A(1) of Part 2 (scheme membership, cessation and retirement) of that Scheme from 1st July 2000, or if later, from the date before 6th April 2006 on which that person took up employment as a retained firefighter;

c

has elected under rule 6A (election to purchase service during the limited period) of Part 11 (pensionable pay, pension contributions and purchase of additional service) of the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) to pay the pension contributions required as a special firefighter member from that date;

d

has elected under rule 11A (transfer of accrued rights under the 1992 Scheme to special membership under this scheme) of Part 12 (transfers into and out of the Scheme) of the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) to transfer accrued rights under this Scheme to his or her special membership of the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) at the same time as his or her election under rule 6A of Part 11 of that Scheme,

the amount of the transfer value is the equivalent value to the total of A/45 of pensionable service where A is the total in years of pensionable service, not exceeding 30 years.

5

In Schedule 8 (pension contributions), in Part 1A—

a

for paragraph 1(2)(b), substitute—

b

pensionable pay in the first column of the Table in paragraph 3 does not include payments made to a regular firefighter by the authority in respect of any benefits which are pensionable under rule B5C, but those payments shall be included in his or her pensionable pay for the purposes of the application of the rate specified in the second column.

b

for paragraph 2(2)(b), substitute—

b

pensionable pay in the first column of the Table in paragraph 3 does not include payments made to a part-time regular fire-fighter by the authority in respect of any benefits which are pensionable under rule B5C, but those payments shall be included in his or her pensionable pay for the purposes of the application of the rate specified in the second column.

JOHN SWINNEYA member of the Scottish GovernmentSt Andrew’s House,Edinburgh
EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992 (set out in Schedule 2 to the Firemen’s Pension Scheme Order 1992) as it has effect in Scotland.

Article 3(b) amends the definition of “retained firefighter” and “volunteer firefighter” so that they are now defined separately.

Article 4 is consequential on the amendments made to the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) by the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2014 (S.S.I. 2014/110) which provide those persons who were employed in Scotland as retained firefighters between 1st July 2000 and 6th April 2006 with access to a pension scheme for that period. Article 4 amends Part 4 of Schedule 6 to the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992 to provide a different amount of transfer value where the member of that Scheme meets certain requirements.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.