Here is a summary of the agenda for the Combined Fire Authority for County Durham and Darlington Pension Board Committee meeting. The meeting included discussion of correspondence, risk management, pensions updates, ill health retirements and internal disputes. A report from the West Yorkshire Pension Fund ¹ (WYPF) was also scheduled to be discussed.

Pensions Update

A report on pensions was prepared by Alison Harrison, Finance Officer, to update the committee on scheme membership, changes, training, governance, and communication issues.

As of September 2025, there were 426 active members of the 2015 Scheme, and no active members in any other scheme. Between April and September 2025, there were 8 retained firefighters and 1 wholetime opt-in, and 1 retained opt-in new starters. During the same period, 9 retained leavers, 2 wholetime ill-health retirements, 1 retained ill-health retirement, 6 wholetime retirements, 3 retained retirements, 2 wholetime opt-outs and 1 retained opt-out also occurred.

As of August 2025, there were 451 members of the 1992 Scheme, 18 members of the 2006 Scheme, 27 members of the Retained Modified Scheme, 46 members of the 2015 Scheme and 5 members of the 2015/Retained Modified Scheme.

As of August 2025, there were 29 deferred members of the 1992 Scheme, 133 members of the 2006 Scheme, 24 members of the Retained Modified Scheme, 152 members of the 2015 Scheme, and no members of the 2015/Retained Modified Scheme.

The report also included key performance indicators from the WYPF. Of the work completed between 1 and 31 August 2025:

• 1 pension estimate was completed, against a target of 10 days per case, but it took 33 days to complete.
• 1 pension set up/payment of lump sum was completed, against a target of 3 days per case, and it took 3 days to complete.
• 1 deferred benefits into payment/payment of lump sum was completed, against a target of 3 days per case, and it took 3 days to complete.
• 1 retirement actual was completed, against a target of 10 days per case, and it took 3 days to complete.
• 1 change of address was completed, against a target of 20 days per case, and it took 1 day to complete.
• 2 changes of bank details were completed, against a target of 20 days per case, and it took 1.5 days to complete.
• 1 general payroll change was completed, against a target of 20 days per case, and it took 1 day to complete.
• 2 update member details were completed, against a target of 20 days per case, and it took 1 day to complete.
• 669 monthly pensions were processed, against a target of the pay date.

The report stated that the pension estimate did not meet its target because of high volumes, with some estimates taking around 8-10 weeks to process. It also stated that estimates with an intended retirement date of 3 months or more in the future are not processed until the more urgent estimates with a retirement date within 3 months have been completed.

Age Discrimination Remedy

The report also provided an update on the age discrimination remedy ² - contingent decisions, stating that the Local Government Association (LGA) emailed all stakeholders on 29 July 2025, with an update from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) relating to the current position for contingent decisions for opted-out members.

Following engagement, concerns were raised that the current legislation does not fully deliver the intended remedy for a small cohort of members who opted out, depending on when the opt-out and opt-in occurred, and who now wish to buy back service for the remedy period.

A working group was established, made up of government, member representatives, employer representatives, scheme administrators, scheme managers, representatives from devolved administrations and actuaries, to establish how to address this issue, and will support the development of a final proposal for government consultation in the autumn.

To assist with these discussions, fire and rescue authorities were requested to provide details of how many contingent decision claims for opted-out members they had received.

With regards to the age discrimination remedy - remediable service statements, WYPF advised that they were not going to be able to produce any annual benefit statements - remediable service statements (ABS-RSS) by the statutory deadline of 31 March 2025, and reported this breach to The Pensions Regulator (TPR). WYPF communicated the delay to the affected in-scope members, and the service also reported the breach to the TPR.

As of 31 March 2025, there were 191 active members, 79 deferred members and 149 immediate choice outstanding.

WYPF started issuing the 2023/24 ABS-RSS for active members in June 2025, and as at the end of August the bulk had been issued to members with 21 remaining outstanding. The outstanding cases involved members who had either scheme pays debits, transfers-in or had transferred-in from another fire and rescue authority during the remedy period.

As at the end of August there were still 145 immediate choice and 79 deferred ABS-RSS to be issued.

The service submitted the year end data for the 2024/25 ABS-RSS to WYPF to meet their deadline of 30 April 2025, and WYPF have produced the bulk of the 2024/25 pension statements by the statutory deadline of 31 August 2025.

Every member impacted by remedy is rolled back into their legacy scheme for their membership during the remedy period (1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022). Due to the differences in contribution rates within the Firefighters' Pension Schemes this triggers a contribution adjustment, as per Part 1, Chapter 1, regulation 2 (1) of the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022.

For members who return to Firefighters' Pension Scheme (FPS) 1992 and Special FPS 2006, they will have additional contributions that will need to be paid, whereas members who return to FPS 2006 will receive a refund of contributions.

The contribution adjustment can be made at different times:

• Before retirement each year, within 12 weeks of receiving the ABS-RSS. Interest is calculated to the date of payment.
• At retirement. Interest is calculated to the date of payment.

Up to the end of September 2025, 15 FPS 1992 members have paid their contribution adjustment payment, and the Service has processed 62 refunds of contributions for FPS 2006 members.

Matthews Remedy

On 4 April 2025, the Government Actuary Department (GAD) published version 2.7.0 of the Matthews 2 GAD calculator and user guidance, which adds in the 2024/25 pension increases and supersedes previous versions.

At the end of September 2025, the Service had received 124 completed expression of interest forms back from former and current retained members, and had issued 92 calculations up to that point, receiving 74 positive responses which have been passed on to WYPF for processing.

Pension Dashboards

WYPF continue to provide the Service with regular updates on their preparation for connecting to the dashboard ecosystem in their client reports and meetings as well as providing a monthly pensions dashboard countdown.

To be ready for connection to the dashboard WYPF have been working with our pension funds and their Dashboards Integrated Service Provider (ISP) Bravura to:

• define and agree the data match criteria
• collect the fund's individual connection codes issued by the TPR
• received signed agreements of service provision from ourselves
• exchanged test files with their ISP.

WYPF are now in a ready state to connect to the ecosystem upon instruction from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Pensions Dashboard Project team.

Firefighters' Pensions: DELTA Returns

On 30 July 2025, MHCLG emailed Claims Certifiers/Administrators to inform them that the pension forecast DELTA forms were available online and fire and rescue authorities should be in the process of completing the six-year forecasts. The deadline for submission was 28 August 2025, and the Service submitted the pension forecasts by the deadline.

Local Pension Board Training Sessions

The available dates for Local Pension Board training were listed as:

• Monday 8 December 2025 12:00-14:30 (Teams) Refresher Training
• Thursday 22 January 2026 10:00-14:00 (Teams) Full Training

The report recommends that members note the content of the report.

Update from Administrator WYPF Report

Helen Scargill from the WYPF prepared a report that included a summary of completed work, work in progress, member web registrations, membership numbers, an administration update, communication and training information, a member update, an IT update, a five year audit plan, overriding disclosure time limits, a calendar of events, and regulations/fire scheme updates.

Between 1 and 31 August 2025:

• 1 pension estimate was completed, against a target of 10 days per case, but it took 33 days to complete.
• 1 pension set up/payment of lump sum was completed, against a target of 3 days per case, and it took 3 days to complete.
• 1 deferred benefits into payment/payment of lump sum was completed, against a target of 3 days per case, and it took 3 days to complete.
• 1 retirement actual was completed, against a target of 10 days per case, and it took 3 days to complete.
• 1 change of address was completed, against a target of 20 days per case, and it took 1 day to complete.
• 2 changes of bank details were completed, against a target of 20 days per case, and it took 1.5 days to complete.
• 1 general payroll change was completed, against a target of 20 days per case, and it took 1 day to complete.
• 2 update member details were completed, against a target of 20 days per case, and it took 1 day to complete.
• 669 monthly pensions were processed, against a target of the pay date.

The report stated that the pension estimate did not meet its target because of high volumes, with some estimates taking around 8-10 weeks to process. It also stated that estimates with an intended retirement date of 3 months or more in the future are not processed until the more urgent estimates with a retirement date within 3 months have been completed.

As of the time of writing the report, the number of members signed up to member web were:

• 317 active members
• 355 pensioners
• 0 pensioner ex-spouses
• 36 beneficiary pensioners
• 0 deferred ex-spouses
• 152 deferred members

The report also provided a breakdown of membership numbers by scheme:

Administration Update

The report stated that WYPF had processed 144 payments relating to the Matthews remedy, meaning those members have received payment of their lump sum (if an election to commute was made), backdated pension arrears and are in receipt of ongoing monthly pension.

WYPF currently have 143 cases where claim forms have been received, and they are working hard to make payments. These cases are a mixture of those who have never been in receipt of pension and those receiving additional payments having already been in the scheme and in receipt of pension.

WYPF continue to compile special pensioner data into a master spreadsheet, but this is taking longer to process due to volume and resource at present. They are also actively seeking to increase the resource working on the Matthews project and looking to establish a team dedicated to this to improve service delivery.

With regards to FPS Bulletin 96 – August 2025, the report included the latest Matthews updates, stating that GAD are currently working on a version 2.8 of the calculator to correct an issue with initial prorata pension increases, which affects retirement dates shortly before the 2017 PI order date which are due a 0% pro-rata increase and subsequent 0% pro-rata periods for PI order dates since. WYPF expected v2.8 will be available by the end of September.

The report also noted that Aleama Saddiq has commenced Maternity Leave from 1st September 2025, and welcomed Roseline Umenjoh and Ebony Margerison as Senior Pensions Officers, who have been promoted internally. Sukwinder Kaur & Bernadette Forrest-Ellison have both been successful in their promotion to acting up Senior Pensions Officer within the team. WYPF also confirmed the appointed of a Member Services Manager who will commence on 27 October, and have begun a recruitment exercise for a new Matthews Team, expecting an internal appointment to a new Team Manager role in this team by the end of September.

WYPF have posted all returns for all fire and rescue authorities for March, which enabled them to produce ABS & ABS-RSS, and have had to pause some uploads to enable rollback, and are now concentrating on April returns for all fire and rescue authorities.

Communication & Training

WYPF have completed the annual employer's satisfaction survey, and are currently considering the results.

They have also put together a webinar to give members the opportunity to learn more about their pension scheme, running in-line with the national initiative of Pensions Awareness Week, kicking off on Monday 15 September 2025.

The webinars are:

• Monday 15 Sept 10:00 – Basic Guide to the FPS2015
• Monday 15 Sept 18:00 – Basic Guide to the FPS2015
• Tuesday 16 Sept 13:00 – Basic Guide to the FPS2015

The report also noted that WYPF attended the Staffordshire Pension boards on 14 August 2025, and the Tyne & Wear Pension boards on 29 August 2025, as well as the MHCLG Contingent Decisions & Opt Outs meetings on 6 August 2025, 13 August 2025 and 20 August 2025, and the Administrator Forum on 11 August 2025.

IT Update

The report stated that the dashboard is still on track for go live 31 October, but the public access date is still unknown, although DWP will provide 6 months notice of the date.

WYPF thanked all fire and rescue authorities who have provided their registration codes and confirmation that WYPF are to be their Dashboard provider, and noted that they are still awaiting information from 2 fire and rescue authorities, and as they get closer to go live this becomes increasingly important.

Five Year Audit Plan 2023 – 2027

The report included WYPF's five year audit plan, which included annual accounts verification, local government scheme contributions, new pensions and lump sums, transfers out, transfers in, reimbursement of agency payments, life existence/certificates, AVC arrangements, admission of new bodies, pensioners payroll, purchase of additional pension, annual benefits statements, fire service new pensions and lump sums, UK and overseas equities, UK fixed and index linked public and corporate bonds, UK and overseas unit trusts, fund of hedge funds, UK and overseas private equities, global bonds, treasury management, stock lending, compliance with IAP investment decisions and policies, verification of assets, listed alternatives, transfer of data to new pensions system, monthly contribution data usage, information governance including GDPR, transfer of data from outside bodies, pooling arrangements, custodial transfer arrangements, accuracy of contributions recorded on member records, GLIL, NLGPS collaborative work, business continuity, shared service admission, and exiting employers.

Overriding Disclosure Time Limits

The report also included a table of overriding disclosure time limits, which included material alterations to basic scheme information, transfer credits, annual benefit statements, deferred benefit statements, pension savings statements, cash equivalent transfer value out, accessing benefits before normal pension age, accessing benefits on or after normal pension age, and notification of deferred benefit entitlement.

The report also included a table of divorce time limits, which included request for divorce information only, request for divorce information where you are notified that the information is required in connection with divorce proceedings that have already commenced, request for divorce information where a Court Order imposes a deadline, request for divorce information where you are notified that a Pension Sharing Order may be issued, where the request is for information which does not include a Cash Equivalent Transfer Value, Pension Sharing Order received but some information and/or charges are still outstanding, Pension Sharing Order received including all relevant information and charges, and PSO has been implemented.

Calendar of Events

The report included a calendar of events, which included life certificates, HMRC event reporting, payment of unauthorised lump sum and scheme sanction charge to HMRC, review of DWP benefits for injury cases, GAD data collection spreadsheet, apply pensions increase, apply care revaluation, issue P60's, pensioner newsletter, active newsletter, issue deferred annual benefits statements, pension estimates assumption exercise, pension savings statement, participate in NFI, TPR scheme returns, TPR annual survey, and IAS19 data capture exercise for actuaries.

Regulations/Fire Scheme Update

The report directed readers to the Firefighters' Pension (England) Scheme Advisory Board Bulletin 96, highlighting age discrimination remedy updates, the GAD calculator – Version 3, and TPR.

The report also included information on training, including induction, internal dispute resolution procedure, and local pension board training sessions, and encouraged local pension boards to book onto the relevant session for them.

Finally, the report noted the Firefighters' Pensions Conference (AGM), and FPS coffee mornings, and provided useful links to legislation, and pensions dashboards.

Risk Register

Alison Harrison also prepared a report on the Pension Board Risk Register.

The risk register assesses risks based on a combination of the likelihood of the risk occurring, and the impact that risk would have. The risk score is calculated by multiplying the likelihood and impact scores. Mitigating actions are put in place to reduce the residual risk.

The risk register included the following risks:

1. Loss/damage to records due to operational disaster (i.e. flood/fire).
2. Breach of GDPR regulations due to member data being incomplete or inaccurate.
3. Failures in pension administration/maladministration resulting in poor service provision for members and the Service.
4. Failure to value for money due to excessive charges by pension administrator.
5. Inappropriate allocation of fund due to fraud/fraudulent behaviour.
6. Costs being incurred by members or the Service due to a failure to apply pension/tax rules correctly or on time.
7. Failure to deduct correct contributions from member pay.
8. Failure of employer to pay contributions to the scheme.
9. Failure of the FPS to manage the pension fund correctly.
10. Failure to interpret/apply rules or legislation correctly.
11. Failure to comply with disclosure requirements or communicate with members of staff.
12. Impact of pandemic on pension administration and payment.
13. Sargeant ³.
14. Matthews.
15. Pensions Dashboards.

Correspondence

The correspondence log included a summary of correspondence received between 2 April 2025 and 25 September 2025. This included updates from the Home Office regarding the proposed extension of the deadline following the recent Matthews consultation, and updates on the McCloud remedy for firefighters who opted out of their pension scheme due to age discrimination. It also included FPS Bulletins 92, 93, 94, 95 and 96, and updates to the McCloud tax and contributions calculator.

The correspondence action log noted that one action was ongoing, relating to TPR six key processes factsheet 2021 to consider.

Other Matters

The agenda included discussion of ill health retirements/injury awards, and internal disputes. There was also an opportunity to raise such other business as, in the opinion of the Chair of the meeting is of sufficient urgency to warrant consideration. Finally, there was an item during which it was considered the meeting would not be open to the public, to discuss breaches of the law.