Meeting documents

To consider Item 13

The Lead Member for People and Equality and Diversity introduced the report and advised Members that this report was being brought back to the Fire Authority following the agreement to defer it to October at the June 2017 meeting.

The HR Services and Development Manager advised Members that the purpose of this report was to recommend a position on the scheme manager pension discretions as contained in the Firefighters Pension (England) Regulations 2014. The Firefighters’ Pension Scheme Regulations 2014 set out fifty-two pension discretions available to the Authority following the introduction of the 2015 Firefighters’ Pension Scheme in April 2015.  An immediate position was required on three pension discretions within Regulations; Regulations 5 on delegation, Regulation 17 on pensionable pay and Regulation 111 on pension contributions during absences from work due to illness, trade disputes and authorised absences.

The HR Services and Development Manager advised Members that a report was presented at the Fire Authority meeting on 10 June 2015 and a policy statement was adopted on these discretions. The Member approved position on these discretions had not been amended, and the remaining forty-nine pension discretions had been added to form the Scheme Manager Pension Discretions policy presented today, bringing together all the discretionary elements as contained within the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (England) Regulations 2014.

Appendix 1 provided a position on each pension discretion with a recommendation made for each one. Further clarity had been provided to documents to enable greater understanding of the pension discretions and the implication of the pension discretions on the scheme manager. Recommendations made within this report had been made in collaboration with Royal Berkshire and were in the main, the same as those pension discretions agreed by Royal Berkshire’s Fire Authority on 18 April 2017.  

Appendix 2 was a draft scheme manager pension discretions policy based on the approval of Appendix 1. This was being recommended as the adopted policy for the Authority. This document incorporated the three approved discretions made in June 2015, and brings together all the discretions for the 2015 Firefighters’ Pension Scheme into one document. As detailed within this appendix, it was recommended this policy was approved for a three year period unless there was a need to review earlier due to legislation or pension Regulation changes as was normal. In line with best practice, the pension discretions set out in the 1992 and 2006 Firefighters’ Pension Schemes and the Local Government Pension Scheme would be reviewed, with reports planned on these for 2018. This was with exception to one of the pension discretions applicable to firefighters in the 1992 and 2006 Schemes following an amendment to the Regulations in July 2013, which could impact on the Authority’s ability to promote temporarily.

A Member asked if consultations had been held locally with the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and was advised that yes the report had been circulated at the joint consultation forum which a representative from the FBU sat on.

A Member asked if the service excluded people with beards as operational firefighters and was advised that firefighters were required to be clean shaven for health and safety reasons, so breathing apparatus could be worn correctly, but there were other roles within the fire service.

RESOLVED –

That the forty-nine Scheme Manager Pension Discretions applicable to the 2015 Firefighters’ Pension Scheme be approved and adopted with immediate effect.