# The New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2007, Paragraph 36A: Missed pension lump sum grant


(1) This article applies where a person—
(a) would have been a special firefighter member if, within the period required by article 66B(1) or (12) (election to purchase service during the limited period or the extended limited period: supplemental provision) of Part 11, he had elected to pay the mandatory special period pension contribution and had become a special member, or but for his death he could have made such an election and become a special member;
(b) would have been eligible to receive payments in respect of special pensionable service;
(c) died between 7th April 2000 and 1st September 2027 inclusive; and
(d) in the case of a person who died between 7th April 2000 and 5th April 2006 inclusive, was not employed as a retained firefighter at the time of his death.
(2) An application for a missed pension lump sum grant may be made by—
(a) the spouse or civil partner of the deceased; or
(b) if the deceased was not married or in a civil partnership at the time of his death, or where his spouse or civil partner has died since the deceased’s death—
(i) a child of the deceased; or
(ii) if the deceased did not have children at the time of his death, or where his children have died since the deceased’s death, the persons who are beneficially entitled to the personal estate of the deceased.
(3) Subject to paragraph (6), the missed pension lump sum grant is a lump sum equal to the value, together with interest, of the pension payments (“the past pension payments”) the deceased would have received up to the date of his death if, at the date of his death, he had been a member of this Scheme who had made contributions equivalent to his contributions under article 66A and 66B of Part 11.
(4) When calculating the amount of the missed pension lump sum grant under paragraph (3), it is to be assumed that the deceased would have elected to commute one quarter of the pension calculated in accordance with that paragraph.
(5) The interest payable in accordance with paragraph (3) must be calculated in accordance with article 11A(9) (special member’s ordinary pension) of Part 3.
(6) The amount of the missed pension lump sum grant must be reduced by the amount of the deceased’s contributions under articles 66A and 66B of Part 11.
(7) Any application for a grant under this article must—
(a) be made in writing to the Board;
(b) be made by the spouse, civil partner, child or personal representative of the deceased, as applicable;
(c) confirm the date on which the deceased took up employment as a retained firefighter;
(d) where the deceased left that employment, confirm the date on which he left;
(e) where the deceased took up employment as a regular firefighter, confirm the date on which he took up that employment;
(f) where the deceased joined this Scheme as a standard member or joined the FPS, confirm the date on which he joined the Scheme and, if it was the case, the date on which he made an election not to pay pension contributions under article 8 of Part 2 of this Scheme or under article 59 of the FPS (as applicable); and
(g) provide a copy of the deceased’s death certificate.
(8) Where the Board is not able to determine the period of the deceased’s service and the Board does not hold records of the deceased’s pay for that period, and the person making the application cannot provide the Board with the necessary documents, the Board may—
(a) determine the deceased’s pensionable pay for that period from the records which it holds and its local experience, or
(b) apply the default assumption if a determination under sub-paragraph (a)—
(i) is not possible, or
(ii) is a determination that the deceased’s retained pensionable pay for the period was less than 25% of the pensionable pay of a whole-time regular firefighter employed in a similar role with equivalent qualifying service.
(9) In paragraph (8), the default assumption is that the deceased’s retained pensionable pay for the period was equal to 25% of the pensionable pay of a whole-time regular firefighter employed in a similar role with equivalent qualifying service.
(10) The Board must use reasonable endeavours to notify all persons who may be entitled to a missed pension lump sum grant that they may be so entitled as soon as possible and, in any event, before 1st September 2027.
(11) Subject to paragraph (12), an application under paragraph (7) must be made to the Board before 1st September 2027.
(12) Where a person did not receive a notification from the Board under paragraph (10), despite the Board using reasonable endeavours to notify eligible persons as required by that paragraph, an application under paragraph (7) may be made on or after 1st September 2027.
(13) Where the Board decides that a missed pension lump sum grant is payable, the Board must pay the missed pension lump sum grant during the period of three months beginning with the date on which the application for the payment was received.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2007/215/schedule/ANNEX/paragraph/36A (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/new-firefighters-pension-scheme-order-northern-ireland-2007/schedule-ANNEX/paragraph-36A
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.