Leaving the fire service: resigning, notice and your pension

Before you resign: the questions to answer first

Leaving a firefighter’s job is a bigger financial decision than leaving most jobs, because of the pension, the leave and sick pay terms and the difficulty of replacing them. Before you hand in notice, work out whether you are leaving the fire service altogether, moving to another service, or changing role within the same one. If it is a move to another service, our transfer guide and moving and relocating guide are more relevant.

Then check the numbers: your pension position, how much leave you have left, whether there are any lieu days owed, and whether you have any liabilities, such as repaying a maternity payment or training costs. Also consider timing. Because the leave year runs from 1 January to 31 December and entitlement is proportionate to your service in the year if you leave part-way, the leaving date affects both your pay in lieu and your pension accrual.

Finally, think about the first months afterwards. If you are leaving to start a new role, confirm the offer in writing and the start date. If you are leaving for a career break or to retrain, plan your finances, including how you will replace income, health cover and any life cover linked to the job. Our guide on after the fire service: second careers covers options.

Resigning and notice: what the rules say

The Grey Book (Section 6) says an employee shall be subject to a minimum period of notice, and shall give a minimum period of notice of termination in accordance with the Employment Rights Act 1996. It also requires written particulars of employment to be provided within two months of starting. Your contract or written statement will set your actual notice period, which may be longer than the statutory minimum, so read it. GOV.UK advises checking your employment contract for your employer’s policy on handing in notice.

Put your resignation in writing, addressed as your service’s policy directs (usually to your line manager and HR), stating your last working day. Keep a copy. Ask when you will receive your P45 for your next employer. If you are on the retained duty system, your contract may have its own arrangements, and if you are combining retained duties with another role, check both.

Notice is not just a formality. While you work it, you remain subject to the Grey Book, including duty, sickness and leave rules. If you take annual leave during notice, it reduces what is paid in lieu. If you are off sick during notice, the sick pay rules continue to apply. If you are being managed under a capability or disciplinary procedure, resigning does not necessarily end that process; ask your union representative or HR what happens to a live case.

What you are paid when you leave

The Grey Book is clear that payments in lieu are made for accrued leave. On termination of employment, payment in lieu is made for any annual leave accrued but not taken in the current leave year, and for any days in lieu of public holidays accrued in the previous twelve months and not taken. In the case of death, those amounts are paid into the employee’s estate. The leave entitlement of someone who leaves during the year is proportionate to their service in that year.

Leave you have already taken in advance can work against you. The Grey Book says that if you voluntarily leave before the end of the leave year, any leave taken beyond your proportionate entitlement may be treated as unpaid leave and pay adjusted accordingly. So if you have taken your whole year’s leave by June and resign in September, expect an adjustment. Ask for a written final pay calculation so you can check it.

Other final-pay items may include overtime, allowances or acting-up pay earned but not yet paid, any compensatory grant owed (the Grey Book says an employee who leaves service is paid the whole of any compensatory grant due), and reimbursement of approved expenses. Check your final payslip against the calculation and use the payslip checker to spot anything missing.

Your pension when you leave: refund, deferred pension or transfer

For FPS 2015 members, the position depends on how long you have been in the scheme. An LPPA member guide explains that if you leave with less than three months’ service and without a transfer in, you are entitled to a refund of your contributions. If you have at least three months’ qualifying service, or have had a transfer value paid into your account, you become a deferred member: your active account closes and a deferred account holds the value of your pension account at the date of leaving. Guidance in that scheme guide dates from 2018 and 2021, so check the current regulations and your administrator’s wording.

Deferred benefits are revalued. Your pension stays in the deferred account until you can draw it, increased each year with inflation-linked indexation. You can draw a deferred pension at deferred pension age, the same as your State Pension age or 65 if higher, or from age 55 with an early retirement reduction based on factors provided by the scheme actuary. A deferred pension can be partly commuted for a lump sum, and ill-health early payment is possible if you are incapable of regular employment until deferred pension age.

For a sense of scale, the scheme earns 1/59.7 of pensionable pay per year. A competent firefighter on £40,358 for ten years builds roughly £6,760 of annual pension (10 × £676) before revaluation. If you have legacy service or remediable service from before April 2015, the position is more complex; read the pension remedy guide, and use the pension calculator for the 2015 scheme.

Should you transfer your pension out or leave it deferred?

When you leave, you may be able to ask for a transfer value, which is the value of your deferred benefits expressed as a lump sum, worked out by applying actuarial factors. The scheme guide says you should compare the benefits a transfer value would buy in a new scheme with the alternative benefits in the firefighters’ scheme before deciding. For most people leaving a defined-benefit public service scheme, this is a serious decision, and independent regulated advice is strongly advisable before transferring out.

If you are going to another public service scheme, such as the police or NHS, a transfer may allow your service to count in the new scheme. If you join another fire and rescue authority in England, you remain in FPS 2015 and there is no transfer payment; your former authority provides a certificate setting out your pension accounts and pensionable employment. Where the move is to Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, the transfer-value approach applies. See firefighter pension transfers.

If you are thinking about opting out rather than leaving, that is a different decision, covered in pension opt-out. And if you are near retirement age rather than leaving early, see firefighter pension retirement age, early retirement and lump sum commutation.

Other things that change when you leave

Leaving affects more than pay and pension. Life cover, death-in-service benefits, employer sick pay, occupational health, discounts and any salary sacrifice arrangements normally stop. The FPS 2015 death-in-service lump sum of three times final pay applies to active members, and different arrangements apply to deferred members, so check what cover you will still have and whether you need to replace it. See income protection and life cover for firefighters.

Access to the Fire Fighters Charity continues for former staff: it says it serves every member of the fire services community, serving and former. Blue Light Card eligibility may also continue for retired fire service personnel. Union membership may change, and your FBU representative or the union can tell you what applies after you leave.

If you have any live issues, such as an injury claim, a sickness process or an unresolved grievance, raise them before you go. The Grey Book says a grievance should wherever possible be dealt with before an employee leaves, and although there is no legal requirement for an employer to consider a former employee’s grievance, some do. See firefighter injured on duty entitlements if an injury may lead to a claim.

A step-by-step leaving checklist

Use this sequence to keep the process orderly. It works for most leavers, whether you are moving to a different career or a different service.

1. Read your contract and confirm your notice period and any repayment obligations.
2. Request your leave and lieu-day balance, and a deferred pension illustration from your administrator.
3. Confirm your next job in writing before you resign, and agree a start date that fits your notice.
4. Submit written notice to the person named in your policy, keep a copy and get an acknowledgement.
5. Book or run down leave sensibly, remembering the forfeit and proportionate rules.
6. Return equipment, uniform and any service property, and agree any outstanding expenses.
7. Check your final payslip for pay in lieu, allowances and deductions, and keep your P45.
8. Keep pension paperwork and update your address with the pension administrator so that you can receive annual statements.