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Pension Contribution Rates

Employer and Employee Rates

You contribute a percentage of your pensionable pay towards your pension. The rate you pay depends on the scheme you are in and the pay band you fall into (i.e., your contribution rate is determined by your whole-time pensionable pay for the role that you hold even if you are part-time or are a retained firefighter). 

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service will also pay a contribution towards your pension. An actuarial valuation is carried out every few years which sets the employer contribution rates for each Fire Authority: 

  • The 2012 valuation had an implementation period of April 2015 to March 2019;
  • The 2016 valuation has an implementation period of April 2019 to March 2023. 

As such, the new scheme specific employer contribution rates came into effect from April 2019. 

Please note that there will be no changes to employee contribution rates or the accrual rate after April 2019. There will also be no change to the member contribution banding rates, therefore the bands that came into effect from April 2018 will continue to be used. 

Where a member has retired with an entitlement to the immediate payment of an ill-health pension, that member’s employer must pay an ill-health additional contribution. The Home Office has confirmed they intend that the ill-health additional contribution over the implementation period (i.e., April 2019 to March 2023) will be as follows: 

  • Higher tier ill-health additional contribution: 4 times pensionable pay (over the last 12 months)
  • Lower tier ill-health additional contribution: 2 times pensionable pay (over the last 12 months)

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