Fire Service Pension Release

Rooky81

I'm currently in the 11th year of the Fire Service Pension scheme but wish to ask if anyone is aware if you can release or borrow any of your contributions early?

jamesd

Do any of these things apply to you:

1. You meet the ill health retirement conditions of the scheme.

If not, no unless you're within the age range when the scheme allows you to retire. Those in unfunded public sector schemes are currently very well protected against pension liberation fraud because transfers out are prohibited by law.

If this was a funded public or private sector sector scheme these questions would also be relevant but they aren't for this one because it's unfunded:

2. Diagnosed with a medical condition where your doctors are saying that your life expectancy is no more than a year? (100% access tax free at any age possible)
3. Sufficiently ill health that you are no longer able to work normally in any reasonable capacity? (early retirement may be possible after transfer even if not meeting scheme requirement for ill health requirement)
4. You are aged 55 or older? (100% of the pot available after transfer even if it is before the scheme's normal retirement age)

Those three options and all others involving transfers out ceased to apply to unfunded public sector schemes from 6 April 2015. I'm mentioning them here in part because it's a recent change and in part so you know that the stringent limits that apply to you won't necessarily apply to other public sector or private sector employees.

Drp8713

Its a no im afraid. They wont offer it to you because its illegal.

Even if you were over 55 you cant transfer out as its an unfunded scheme.

atush

You dont have a pot of money there, you have a promise from the govt/taxpayers to pay you a certain benefit at the certain age.

So the new pension rules never applied to your type of pension (which is the best going).