Progress of Retained Firefighters Matthews Second Options Exercise
Dear North Wales Fire and Rescue Service,
Please provide the following information:
1) Number of completed Expression of Interest forms received for each
month from December 2023 to date, broken down by category of:
Current Firefighters
Firefighters who have left the service
Firefighters who have left the service and are in receipt of a pension
Firefighters who have left the service and in receipt of ill health
benefits
Others.
2) Historic pay scales for rank/role of Firefighter, LFf - Crew Manager,
SubO - Watch Manager for each year from 1975 to 2008.
3) Numbers and categories of completed calculations sent to applicants to
date, broken down by applicant category and month.
4) Cost of purchasing historic service per £1000 of salary earned for each
year from 1975 to 2008 inclusive of tax relief adjustment.
5) Interest rate to be applied for each year of payable pension arrears
from 2006 to 2024.
6) Number of Expressions of Interest received requesting costs of
converting FPS2006 membership to the Modified Pension Arrangements and how
many have been completed and sent out.
Yours faithfully,
Steve Hunter
Dear Steve,
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service (NWFRS) hereby acknowledges receipt of your request for information as detailed below, which is being actioned under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is now receiving the Service’s attention and a response will normally be provided within 20 working days of the date of receipt.
To confirm, your request was received on 2nd August 2024, and you have supplied an email address for response.
Yours faithfully,
Olivia
Cynorthw-ydd Gweinyddol Swyddogaeth Gweithrediadau | Operations Function Administrative Assistant
Swyddog Cefnogi Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth | Information Governance Support Officer
Uned Cefnogi Busnes | Business Support Unit
Gwasanaeth Tân & Achub Gogledd Cymru | North Wales Fire and Rescue Service
Nodwch: Fy nyddiau gwaith yw Dydd Mawrth - Dydd Gwener
Please note: My working days are Tuesday - Friday
Dear Sir,
Further to your recent request (copy below) made under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act, it is clear that North Wales Fire and Rescue
Service (NWFRS) will be unable to provide a response without clarification
of the information required.
It is not clear from the request what Question 1 relates to. The rest of
the request appears to relate to the Second Choice exercise and it would
be helpful if that could be clarified. Equally, the application dates in
Wales are different from England and the regulations only came into force
on 1st February 2024; therefore, the December 2023 date requires
clarification.
With regard to Question 6, please can you clarify that this relates to the
2007 FPS Wales rather than the 2006 scheme?
Once you have clarified your request NWFRS will be able to prepare a
response. If clarification is not received within three months your
request will be considered to have lapsed (under Section 1(3) of the
Freedom of Information Act a public authority need not comply with a
request unless any further information reasonably required to locate the
information is supplied).
Yours faithfully,
Swyddog Rhyddid Gwybodaeth/Freedom of Information Officer
Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Gogledd Cymru/North Wales Fire and Rescue Service
Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth a galwadau yn y Gymraeg a’r Saesneg - byddwn
yn ymateb yn gyfartal i’r ddwy ac yn ateb yn eich dewis iaith heb oedi.
We welcome correspondence and calls in Welsh and English - we will respond
equally to both and will reply in your language of choice without delay.
Gwnewch yn siŵr eich bod yn profi’ch larwm mwg yn rheolaidd. Os nad oes
gennych larwm, neu os ydy’ch larwm wedi torri, ffoniwch 0800 169 1234,
anfonwch e-bost i [1][email address] neu ewch i
[2]www.gwastan-gogcymru.org.uk am gyngor ynglŷn â beth i’w wneud nesaf.
Please make sure that you regularly check your smoke alarm. If you do not
have one, or find that the one that you do have is not working, call 0800
169 1234, e-mail [3][email address] or visit
[4]www.nwales-fireservice.org.uk for advice on what to do next.
Dear FoI,
Q1 requests a month by month summary of Expressions of Interest for what you describe as "Second option Matthews" calculations from the effective start date under devolved legislation (3 months from 01 Feb 2024), broken down by the categories listed.
Q6 will refer to costs of transfer from 2007FPS to the modified scheme for in scope existing members
Yours sincerely,
Steve Hunter
Dear Sir,
Further to your recent request to North Wales Fire and Rescue Service
(NWFRS) made under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act regarding
progress of Retained Firefighters Matthews Second Options exercise, the
response from NWFRS is as follows:
1) Number of completed Expression of Interest forms received for each
month from 1^st February 2024 to date, broken down by category of:
Apr-24 May-24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24 Sep-24 Total
Current Firefighters 6 13 8 5 4 1 37
Firefighters who have left 9 57 21 14 4 2 107
the service
Firefighters who have left
the service and are in 17 31 8 9 0 0 65
receipt of a pension
Firefighters who have left
the service and are in 1 1 3 1 0 0 6
receipt of ill health
benefits
Others 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Grand Total 33 102 40 29 8 3 215
2) Historic pay scales for rank/role of Firefighter, LFf - Crew Manager,
SubO - Watch Manager for each year from 1975 to 2008.
The information is exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA), because the information is accessible to you, as it is already
in the public domain here -
[1]https://www.fpsregs.org/index.php/modifi...
3) Numbers and categories of completed calculations sent to applicants to
date, broken down by applicant category and month
0
4) Cost of purchasing historic service per £1000 of salary earned for each
year from 1975 to 2008 inclusive of tax relief adjustment.
This information is not held by the Service.
5) Interest rate to be applied for each year of payable pension arrears
from 2006 to 2024.
We can confirm that the reference to interest is reference multiple times
in the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Wales) (Amendment) Order 2023
([2]https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/file...)
6) Number of Expressions of Interest received requesting costs of
converting FPS2006 membership to the Modified Pension Arrangements and how
many have been completed and sent out.
Received – 136
Sent - 0
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original correspondence and should be addressed to:
The Freedom of Information Officer
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters
Ffordd Salesbury
St Asaph Business Park
St Asaph
Denbighshire
LL17 0JJ
If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45
Website: [3]www.ico.gov.uk
Yours faithfully,
Swyddog Rhyddid Gwybodaeth/Freedom of Information Officer
Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Gogledd Cymru/North Wales Fire and Rescue Service
[4][email address].cymru / [5][email address].wales
Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth a galwadau yn y Gymraeg a’r Saesneg - byddwn
yn ymateb yn gyfartal i’r ddwy ac yn ateb yn eich dewis iaith heb oedi.
We welcome correspondence and calls in Welsh and English - we will respond
equally to both and will reply in your language of choice without delay.
Gwnewch yn siŵr eich bod yn profi’ch larwm mwg yn rheolaidd. Os nad oes
gennych larwm, neu os ydy’ch larwm wedi torri, ffoniwch 0800 169 1234,
anfonwch e-bost i [6][email address].cymru neu ewch i
[7]www.tangogleddcymru.llyw.cymru am gyngor ynglŷn â beth i’w wneud
nesaf.
Please make sure that you regularly check your smoke alarm. If you do not
have one, or find that the one that you do have is not working, call 0800
169 1234, e-mail [8][email address].wales or visit
[9]www.northwalesfire.gov.wales for advice on what to do next.
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