This note is provided for the Home Office (HO) as the responsible authority for the Firefighters' Pension Schemes. This note relates to early payment reductions. It sets out the general method for assessing and applying the actuarial reduction on early payment of pension (early payment reduction) when retiring early in normal health.

This guidance relates only to benefits accrued under the 2015 Scheme Regulations. Some firefighters may also have benefits under the 1992 Scheme or the New Firefighters' Pension Scheme (2006 Scheme) which should be dealt with separately according to relevant scheme guidance.

The following changes have been made when reviewing this guidance:

• Important information around the expected audience for the guidance, use of the guidance, review of factors, compliance and limitations applies across all sets of guidance. Rather than being repeated in each set of guidance, this can now be found on the scheme home page. It is important to read this information alongside the guidance.
• Calculation methodology: No changes have been made to the calculation methodology.
• Examples: There are no examples in this guidance. Worked examples, using the calculation methodology, can be found in prior versions of the guidance (though please note that these use historic factors).
• Factor tables: The "Factor Tables" tab contains the names of the tables that are referenced in the calculation methodology. The tables of factors themselves can be found in the most recently published "Consolidated Factors Workbook" which is available by clicking the "Download current Consolidated Factors Workbook" button on the scheme's home page.
• Assumptions: The key assumptions underlying the factors in each note are contained in the Consolidated Factors Workbook.
• Regulations: The regulations that require the production of the actuarial factors and/or guidance that is the subject of this note are summarised in the "Regulations" tab.