Consultations

Consultations relating to the Firefighters' Pension Schemes and the work of the Scheme Advisory Board are held on this page.

Document Description Start date Closing date
Consultation response on changes to the transitional arrangements of the 2015 PSPS (PDF, 65 pages, 741kb) SAB response to the HMT consultation on changes to the transitional arrangements of the 2015 Public Service Pension Schemes - submitted 9 October 2020.    

HMT Public Service Pensions: GMP indexation consultation: Proposal to extend full indexation (PDF, 37 pages, 431kb)

Written Ministerial Statement HCWS495 7 October 2020 (HTML)

On 6 April 2016, the government introduced the new State Pension which removed the mechanism that enabled public servants in "contracted-out" employment between 1978 – 1997 to have their Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) fully price protected. An interim solution was introduced, which was later consulted on and extended until 5 April 2021.

The consultation considers the policy options available to the government to ensure it continues to meet past commitments to public service employees regarding the full indexation of public service pensions, including for any related GMP element.

 7 October 2020 30 December 2020

HMT Pensions tax relief administration: call for evidence (PDF, 40 pages, 498kb)

Call for evidence - questions (PDF, 2 pages, 121kb)

This call for evidence was announced at Budget 2020.

The government is concerned about the potential for a low-earning individual’s take-home pay to be affected by the method of pensions tax relief operated by their pension scheme. The government is keen to explore this issue further to understand what deliverable options for change may exist. 

 21 July 2020 13 October 2020
HMT consultation response on public sector exit payments (PDF, 18 pages, 216kb)  On 21 July 2020 the government published its response to the consultation on regulations implementing a £95,000 cap on public sector exit payments. This document summarises the responses received and the subsequent changes made to the regulations.     

HMT Public Service Pensions consultation (PDF, 74 pages, 851kb)

Public Service Pensions consultation - questions (PDF, 2 pages, 97.7kb)

Public Service Pensions leaflet (PDF, 3 pages, 63.1kb)

Public Service Pensions Equality Impact assessment (PDF, 38 pages, 378kb)

Update on Cost Control Element of the 2016 valuations (PDF, 2 pages, 95.8kb)

HMT consultation on changes to the transitional arrangements of the 2015 Public Service Pension Schemes and an update on the pause to the cost-cap process.

 

 16 July 2020 11 October 2019
SAB response to HMT informal remedy proposals (PDF, 27 pages, 553kb) The HMT consultation on age discrimination references at paragraph 1.21 the informal technical discussions held with scheme administrators and employer and member representatives earlier this year. The Scheme Advisory Board has published its informal response to those technical discussions.

Within the response the Board highlighted the following points:

  • The lack of information available to them in order to fully assess the impact of the proposals, including at that time no mention of post remedy plans
  • The considerable challenge administrating the remedy would present to locally administered unfunded schemes
  • Concern that a default to the final salary scheme, may not be appropriate for some members in the FPS 2006
  • An immediate need for guidance on processing immediate cases
    
Consultation response on exit cap (PDF, 5 pages, 165kb) SAB response to HMT consultation on restricting exit payments in the public sector.

See also: LGA response (PDF, 43 pages, 736kb); FPS technical note (PDF, 7 pages, 264kb)

 10 April 2019 3 July 2019

Home Office response to 2019 scheme amendments consultation (PDF, 7 pages, 152kb)

Policy Equality Statement dated 28 February 2019 (PDF, 5 pages, 155kb)

 Home Office consultation response on amendments to benefits in the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992 and the Firefighters’ Compensation Scheme 2006.

Accompanying Policy Equality Statement (PES).

    
Consultation response on 2019 scheme amendments (PDF, 11 pages, 445kb) LGA Firefighters’ Pension Adviser response to the Home Office consultation on 2019 amendments to the Firefighters’ Pension Schemes    
Consultation response on pensions dashboards (PDF, 13 pages, 351 kb) SAB response to DWP consultation on Pensions dashboards: Working together for the consumer 3 December 2018 28 January 2019
Home Office consultation on scheme amendments dated 18 December 2018 (PDF, 9 pages, 265kb); Draft SI (PDF, 4 pages, 245kb) Consultation on amendments to benefits in the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992 and the Firefighters’ Compensation Scheme 2006 18 December 2018

29 January  2018
Consultation response on 2018 scheme amendments (PDF, 10 pages, 530kb) LGA Firefighters’ Pension Adviser response to the Home Office consultation on 2018 amendments to the Firefighters’ Pension Schemes    
Home Office consultation on scheme amendments dated 16 April 2018 (PDF, 10 pages, 163kb); Draft SI (PDF, 20 pages, 286kb) Consultation on amendments to survivors’ benefits in the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 2006 and various amendments to the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992, the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 2006 and the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 2015 16 April 2018 14 May 2018
Home Office response dated 28 November 2017 (PDF, 3 pages, 90kb) Home Office response to SAB in relation to consultation on 2016 scheme valuation assumptions.    
Consultation response on 2016 valuation assumptions dated 13 October 2017 (PDF, 11 pages, 428kb) SAB response to Home Office/ GAD consultation on the draft 2016 valuation assumptions report to the Secretary of State.    
Consultation response on treatment of past service costs dated 31 July 2017 (PDF, 18 pages, 577kb)  SAB response to Home Office consultation on the treatment of past service costs in the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 2016 funding valuation    
Consultation response dated 20 February 2017 (PDF, 6 pages, 205kb) Response to the consultation on indexation and equalisation of GMP in public service pension schemes.    
Indexation and equalisation of GMP in public service pension schemes (PDF, 6 pages, 187kb) Updates Scheme Advisory Board members on a government consultation seeking views on how to address the implications of State Pension reforms for guaranteed minimum pensions of public servants below State Pension age.  28 November 2016  20 February 2017
Home Office consultation on scheme amendments dated 18 March 2016 (HTML)  Consultation and subsequent response on retention of survivor benefits on re-marriage where a firefighter has died in the line of duty, in line with the Budget 2015 [para 2.17], and minor technical amendments to FPS 2015. 18 March 2016 13 May 2016
Basis for setting the discount rates for calculating cash equivalent transfer values payable by public service pension schemes - March 2016 (PDF, 3 pages, 216kb) HM Treasury technical note on the discount rates to be used by the scheme managers of public service pension schemes in calculating transfers payable from the schemes.    
Independent Public Service Pensions Commission: Final Report - March 2011 (PDF, 215 pages, 2,690kb) Report from the IPSPC published in March 2011 setting out the case for further reforms to public service pension schemes.     
Consultation on the discount rate used to set unfunded public service pension contributions - December 2010 (PDF, 35 pages, 325kb) HM Treasury consultation across the unfunded public service pension schemes focusing on the discount rate used to set contribution rates through valuations following the SCAPE methodology – known as the SCAPE discount rate.