This note is provided for the Home Office (HO) as the responsible authority for the Firefighters' Pension Schemes in England and relates to the 2015 Scheme.

This document sets out the general method for assessing a pension offset that is applied to a 2015 Scheme member who incurs an annual allowance charge and subsequently elects for the 2015 Scheme to meet part, or all, of this charge through the "Scheme Pays" mechanism.

This note relates to the reduction of a member's pension rights following an election for an annual allowance charge to be met by the 2015 Scheme. It sets out the general method for assessing:

• The notional pension offset that is applied to a Firefighters' Pension Scheme member's benefit in each year that they incur an annual allowance charge, and
• The actual pension offset that is applied to the member's pension on retirement.

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 (NFPS) which should be dealt with separately according to relevant scheme guidance.

This guidance note does not cover the method for determining the amount of any annual allowance charge.

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.

As a result of McCloud remedy, some members may have a new or revised annual allowance tax charge for one of the years during the remedy period (2015 - 2022) which may be determined/notified to the scheme after the date of publication of this guidance. This guidance is not to be used to determine debits in relation to any such charges, please refer to the separate guidance on Scheme Pays for McCloud eligible members for the correct approach.