Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) firefighters pensions: FOI release

Information requested

In reference to FOI 202200278069, you asked for:

• FOI 202200278069 gives numbers of male pensioners who were currently being paid a pension in each year 2000-2020 by age. Is this correct?
• I would be grateful if you could please confirm that these figures include pensioners from the 3 pension schemes from 1992, 2006, and 2015.
• Do they also include pensioners from the retained firefighters scheme?
• I understand that firefighters who are members of the pension schemes who leave before retirement age have several options concerning their pensions if they are not immediately eligible to take their pension or choose not to take it immediately e.g. to 1. defer their pension 2. transfer the value of their benefits to another pension scheme 3. cash in their benefit if they have very short service Have I understood this correctly (are there any other options) and am I right that the figures from the above FOI do not include any of the firefighters in these 3 categories?

Response

FOI 202200278069 gives numbers of male pensioners who were currently being paid a pension in each year 2000-2020 by age. Is this correct?

Yes

I would be grateful if you could please confirm that these figures include pensioners from the 3 pension schemes from 1992, 2006, and 2015.

Yes, though we did not split by these, we grouped all into either Police or Firefighters.

Do they also include pensioners from the retained firefighters scheme?

There was no consideration around whether or not a member record was classed as a retained firefighter. Member records were purely checked to see if they had been classed as being a pensioner within a period. A measure was also taken of how many members had passed away (where we were notified) and then how many of those passed away while on pensioner status.

I understand that firefighters who are members of the pension schemes who leave before retirement age have several options concerning their pensions if they are not immediately eligible to take their pension or choose not to take it immediately e.g. to 1. defer their pension 2. transfer the value of their benefits to another pension scheme 3. cash in their benefit if they have very short service. Have I understood this correctly (are there any other options) and am I right that the figures from the above FOI do not include any of the firefighters in these 3 categories?

I can confirm that none of the above three categories will have been included. The only other option is if they leave with less than three months service they can take a refund of contributions.

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