Page 54 - Group Insurance and Retirement Benefit IC 83 E- Book

a pension fund, to which were carried the firemen's 5 % contributions, an equivalent sum

by the authority, and such further sums, if any, as the authority saw fit to provide. There
was no system of transfer values, but, as with the police scheme, ' pension contributions '

were recoverable from former employers. The 1925 Act applied to all whole-time
permanent operational firemen, except that local-Act schemes previously in force

continued to operate where these were certified by the Government Actuary to be on the
whole not less favorable than the 1925 Act.

(ii) The Firemen's Pension Scheme, 1948 and 1949, made under the Fire Services Act,

1947, superseded the 1925 and 1929 Acts. This scheme is very similar to the 1948 Police
scheme, and, like it, is based on a 30-year service life.

The financial arrangements are, however, different. In view of the wartime

nationalization of the fire service, a centrally administered scheme was considered, but
was rejected. Fire authorities are now required to maintain a Firemen's Pensions Account,

but the present indications are that this will be unfunded. This will entail, inter alia, the
disposal of existing 1925 Act funds, but these are, in any case, probably all actuarially

insolvent. The former ' pension contributions ' are replaced by the more administratively
convenient system of transfer values in the case of approved changes of brigade.

Consideration is being given to the preparation of interchange rules with other branches

of the public service.
(iii) All local-Act schemes are also superseded, except where these are certified by the

Government Actuary as being on the whole not less favorable than the 1948 Scheme; and
thereafter they continue as 'closed' schemes, limited to existing contributors in 1948 for

so long as they continue in operational employment with the parent brigade, subject to
the right of individuals to opt into the general 1948 scheme. The major local-Act schemes

approved by the Government Actuary are those of London and West Ham, and certain

police-firemen are allowed to continue under the police scheme. As an example, the pre-
1948 London firemen derive their pension rights under the Metropolitan Fire Brigade

Act, 1865; pension is based on a ' fiftieths ' scale, and the maximum (two-thirds of final

pay) is earned after only 28 years' service. The member's contribution is at the rate of 2½
% of pay. The scheme is unfunded.