Legal Background

The Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992 (FPS 1992) applied only to regular firefighters and excluded firefighters employed as retained firefighters.

“Matthews and others” fee-paid judges legal case outcome led to legislation allowing retained firefighters employed between 1 July 2000 and 5 April 2006 the right to be treated no less favourably than wholetime firefighters and allowed to join a pension scheme with retrospective effect to 1 July 2000.

While the benefits awarded to special members largely mirrored the benefits under the FPS 1992, the FPS 2006 was amended as the FPS 1992 was closed.

The original legal settlement under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 only allowed certain retained firefighters with service between 1 July 2000 and 5 April 2006 to become members of the modified pension scheme. Eligible firefighters were asked whether they wanted to join this scheme in an options exercise which took place in 2014-2015. Elections to join had to be received by 30 September 2015. This was the ‘first options exercise’.

Matthews judgment was challenged again at the European Court of Justice in relation to fee-paid judges. The Court ruled in that case that service going back to the start of employment must be considered. The government accepted that the same principles apply to certain retained firefighters, whether they have made a legal claim or not.

Matthews 2nd Modified Exercise

A second options exercise is currently taking place to allow eligible retained firefighters to buy pension service as a special member of the FPS 2006, backdated to the start date of their employment. The second options exercise is commonly referred to as Matthews 2.

The pension benefits on offer to any individual who was employed as a retained firefighter during the period and is eligible to be part of the second options exercise:

• 7 April 2000 to 30 June 2000
• 7 April 2000 to 30 June and 1 July 2000 to 5 April 2006
• 1 July 2000 to 5 April 2006, who was not given the option to join the Modified 2006 as part of the first options exercise.

The second options exercise is being managed by the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS). As determined by the scheme regulations NYFRS must calculate the amount of the special pension contributions payable in respect of special pensionable service during the extended limited period. West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) administrators will get involved in the process at the final stage where all the forms and payments have been collected and ready for final processing. In the first instance please contact NYFRS as WYPF administrators may not have your details on their system.

Read further guidance available on the FPS Members website 

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Progress Update

Initially the Matthews remedy was expected to be implemented through an 18-month long second options exercise from 1 October 2023 to 31 March 2025, however there was a delay in the release of the calculation tools and a lack of clear guidance to process certain cases, it made it very difficult to meet the original deadlines.

The delay is due to ongoing consultations, and we are awaiting confirmation that the government will agree to extend the exercise for a further 12 months until 31 March 2026. While official confirmation has not yet been received, it is expected that the extension will be approved.

We will continue to work on issuing all outstanding options letters as swiftly as possible.

Although the deadline is expected to be extended to 31 March 2026, all existing claims will be processed according to the original timescale / deadlines set. You will have six months from receiving your letter to return the completed option election forms, after which your case will be referred to the pension administrators for final processing. As pension calculations can be complex and may require manual adjustments, some cases may take longer to process.

If you are awaiting the final payment, WYPF administrators are very busy working through all Matthews cases for a great majority of FRAs in the country. The current processing time is 3 months (or longer depending on the complexity of cases).

Please note that our team managing this project appreciates your patience as we handle a high volume of queries alongside the project workload. We are committed to completing this process efficiently and ensuring accuracy in the final calculations.

Please note it is your responsibility to seek independent financial advice, if you deem it necessary, on whether to proceed. Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) can only provide a statement of cost and information about the modified FPS 2006.

If you have not submitted an expression of interest form, please complete an Expression of Interest Form, and return it to Nellie.Murray@northyorksfire.gov.uk. 

View the information guide mentioned on the form RDS-employee-information-guide-v1.1

If you know of other on-call firefighters who you think may be eligible, please encourage them to contact us.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Useful Information

Information about the Firefighters’ Pension Schemes, the FPS 2006 for special members, can be found here https://fpsmember.org/fps-2006-special-members/about-fps-2006-special-members

Information about your existing pension record can be found here www.mypension.wypf.org.uk

WYPF members area https://www.wypf.org.uk/fps-members/fps-knowledge-hub/matthews-second-options-exercise/