See the whole picture before a life-changing decision.

What the report shows, and why it is built this way

Ill-health retirement and injury awards are two related systems that are often explained badly. The ill-health pension comes from the Firefighters' Pension Scheme and depends on a medical opinion about whether you can perform your role (lower tier) or any regular employment (higher tier). The injury award comes from the Firefighters' Compensation Scheme and depends on whether your disablement resulted from an injury received in the execution of duty and how severe an IQMP judges it. They interact: 75% of your gross ill-health pension, and certain DWP benefits, are deducted from the injury pension guarantee. That interaction is exactly what a single-number calculator hides, and it is why a scenario comparison is worth having.

The report starts with a plain-English reading of your inputs. It then compares three first-year views: the lower tier, the higher tier and a higher tier that is later reviewed down. Reviews are real: an ill-health pension in payment for under ten years, before State Pension age, can be reviewed, and a review can only move you down a tier or stop the award. Modelling that possibility lets you see what income would look like if the enhancement stopped.

The injury band comparison

The IQMP decides your degree of disablement, and you do not choose the band. Comparing all four (slight, minor, major, severe) shows how sensitive the outcome is, what the one-off gratuity could be, and how much of the guarantee is already covered by the ill-health pension. In the higher bands the guarantee can be far above the ill-health pension, so the top-up matters; in the lower bands the deduction may leave nothing.

The income chart to State Pension age

The centrepiece is a chart of your modelled income after tax, year by year from the day you leave to a few years past State Pension age, drawn against your current take-home. It shows the step down at the start, the effect of a review if you model one, and the step up when the State Pension begins. Seeing the whole path, rather than one first-year number, makes it easier to plan around the low point and to ask the right questions about what happens at a review.

The timeline and tax view

The timeline runs from your leaving age to State Pension age, showing net income each year after 2026/27 income tax, and adds the State Pension from that age if you choose. The take-home comparison sets that against your current pay after tax, National Insurance and pension contributions, using the same tax figures as our other calculators, with rest-of-UK or Scottish rates. Ill-health pensions are taxable income; National Insurance does not apply to pension income; the injury award is described in scheme guidance as non-taxable. If you are considering a lump sum, the tool applies the £12 per £1 exchange rate for the FPS 2015 and 2006 and shows the lump sum separately.

The evidence and process checklist

The checklist contains only process steps we could verify: the role of the IQMP and the scheme manager, the tests for each tier, the definition of regular employment (30 hours a week for 12 months), the review rules, the deadline to confirm satisfaction with an injury assessment described in scheme guidance, DWP benefit deductions and the Pensions Ombudsman route for unresolved complaints. Ticks are saved in your browser so you can come back to them, and the same checklist appears in the printable briefing.

Printing and sharing

Use Print / save PDF to produce a clean briefing without the site's navigation, save it to your account, or export a CSV to open in a spreadsheet or share with your union representative or adviser. The briefing contains no medical information: we never ask about your condition. If you choose to add an AI-written interpretation, our AI service reads only the figures on the page and is instructed never to comment on your health or predict any decision.

What to do next

Take the numbers to your administrator and ask for a written quotation showing the lower tier pension, any enhancement, lump-sum options and the average pensionable pay used. Replace the estimate in the report with their figure and see how the scenarios change. Read our guides on ill-health retirement, injured on duty entitlements, sick pay and the 2015 pension, try the CARE pension calculator or the wider Pension Command workspace. The free ill-health and injury calculator remains open to everyone.

Sources

• LPPA — Fire Pension Scheme employer guide: Retirements
• The Firefighters' Compensation Scheme (England) Order 2006, Schedule 1
• Scottish Public Pensions Agency — injury pensions guide
• Firefighters' Pension Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, ill-health chapter

Frequently asked questions