Fire Services: Pensions
Communities and Local Government
George Howarth (Knowsley, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the change in the level of employer contributions to the Firefighters' Pension Scheme, what plans he has for the surplus to the scheme following the application of the new cost ceiling in 2015.
Bob Neill (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government; Bromley and Chislehurst, Conservative)
Employer contribution rates for the 2015 scheme will be based on scheme valuations, not on cost ceilings. Valuations to assess the costs of all of the firefighters' pension schemes will take place periodically. Until future actuarial valuations in the schemes have been conducted, it would be premature to speculate on future levels of contributions, or any notional surplus or deficit that might arise.