The Government has announced the earliest age that you can take your pension will increase from age 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028.

WYPF Pension Account

Have you registered for My Pension yet? If you want to know more about your own pension information you can log into My Pension. You can view your record, see your documents and manage your account all in one place on www.wypf.org.uk/mypension

Nominating a beneficiary

For the 2006 and 2015 scheme, nominating a partner for a partner’s pension is not a requirement.

Nevertheless, it is advisable you nominate someone to receive pension benefits in the event of your death to protect your loved ones and let the pension fund know who to pay the benefits to.

To find out if you nominated someone, please check your latest Annual Benefit Statement (ABS). If you nominated it gives the details and if you haven’t the message is as below

Please follow the link to a Death Grant Nomination form on  https://www.wypf.org.uk/media/3245/fire_deathgrantnominationform-jan-2022.pdf

Transferring Previous Pension Rights

On taking up your employment you will be asked to give details about any previous membership of a pension scheme and to indicate whether or not you would like the fire and rescue authority to explore the possibility of a transfer of pension rights to FPS 2015. There is a time limit of one year from becoming an active member in which a person can request a transfer payment from a non-occupational pension scheme. FPS 2015 can accept a transfer from another occupational pension scheme registered with HM Revenue and Customs, a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme, or a personal pension scheme. More info on https://www.wypf.org.uk/firefighters/2015-fire-home/active-index/transferring-previous-pension-rights/

Members get a transfer out quotation from their former scheme and send that to WYPF who will deal with a transfer in.

Added Pension Contributions – FPS 2015

To increase your Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 2015 (FPS 2015) pension on retirement and any survivor benefits that may become payable, you can pay Added Pension Contributions to buy added pension. You can pay added contributions to buy up to £8,570.14 of added pension (2024/25 limits) in the FPS 2015. This is payable every year for life, on top of your normal FPS 2015 benefits. The limit will be increased each April in line with the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971.

If you are interested in purchasing Added Pension and would like a quotation, please complete the form on page 3 of FPS 2015 Added Pension factsheet on https://www.fpsregs.org/index.php/administration-resources/factsheets and return it to your pensions administrator on pensions@wypf.org.uk

Opting Out

Membership of the Firefighters’ Pension Schemes is automatic, but not compulsory. You may now be thinking about opting out of the scheme, we ask that you give this matter careful consideration before deciding. It is worth taking time to look at the benefits you are giving up https://www.fpsregs.org/images/Factsheets/Opting-Out-Factsheet-v2.pdf

Pension Estimate

You can request an estimate of your pension benefits built up if you are planning to retire within 12 months from the date the estimate is requested.

https://forms.office.com/e/izumVzziLQ

Please notify the payroll and pensions team on payroll@northyorksfire.gov.uk who will submit the form and relevant paperwork to West Yorkshire Pension Fund administrators.

Retiring/Leaving the Service

Once you have decided on your date of leaving, please complete a leaver form.

Once we notify WYPF about your decision to retire they will send you a retirement pack. The pack will include forms that you need to fill in and return so they can pay your pension benefits.

Just to confirm that members still need to complete the following forms:

• Pension Claim form
• Member Disclaimer
• Contribution Mandate

with a “wet signature” i.e. physical ink signature, which can then be scanned and emailed to WYPF along with any other documents (birth certificate) at the usual address of pensions@wypf.org.uk

They can’t accept forms completed with either a digital, electronic, or typed in name and this is leading a delay in processing retirement cases. Documents can get lost in the post please send any documents in via Recorded delivery as WYPF do not take responsibility for any lost documents.

Your P45 will be available to download and print from the Pay Documents section of My View using the following link – https://selfservice.northyorks.gov.uk/dashboard/dashboard-ui/index.html#/landing

Your P45 form will include your pay and tax paid details, you will not get P60 form upon leaving as it is available to active employees only at the end of the tax year.

Please note, if you are using a works email address for My View (payslips platform), this will need to be updated to a personal one to enable you to access My View after leaving. You can update your email address using the My Details – Contact Details section in My View.

Useful Links

If you would like to find out more about the firefighters’ pension schemes, then please visit https://fpsmember.org/ , which provides information about the benefits and options available to members of the different firefighter schemes, including:

How your pension is worked out

When you can retire

What happens to your pension if you die

What happens to your pension if you leave before retirement

Divorce and your pension

The 2015 Remedy (also known as the ‘McCloud/Sargeant remedy’)

The options exercise for retained firefighters employed before 6th April 2006, and much more.

If you are/were employed in a support role or fire control, then you will be a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme. Further information on this pension scheme can be found at https://www.lgpsmember.org/

West Yorkshire Pension Fund on https://www.wypf.org.uk/firefighters/

LGA Bulletins can be obtained on https://fpsregs.org/index.php/bulletins-and-circulars/bulletins

WYPF Pension Account on www.wypf.org.uk/mypension