Business Services Organisation
HSC Pensions Website Update:
The HSC Pensions Services Administrator new website is now live! The website will be used to share useful information and updates about your pension.
Whilst we wait on the ‘Go Live’ date for our Self Service Portal, here are some of things that you will be able to do in the coming months
- Access your Annual Benefit Statement
- Personal pension estimate calculator
- Update your personal information
- Complete and submit forms
- Regular updates tailored to your pension
As advised previously, the portal will be defaulted to your NIFRS email address unless you notify HSC Pension Services of an alternative email. If you haven’t yet contacted HSC with your preferred e-mail please do so as soon as possible.
Take a look at what the website looks like and familiarise yourself with it – NIFRS Pension Scheme
McCloud Background:
Have you been a Firefighter on or before 31 March 2012 and still serving on or after 1 April 2015?
If so, you will be affected by the changes to public service pension schemes, this is also known as McCloud, Sargeant or the Public Service Pension Remedy.
When you retire, you will be asked if you would like to receive legacy scheme or CARE scheme pension benefits for your membership between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022. This is called the remedy period.
All eligible members will receive information to aid their choice of pension scheme benefits before 31 March 2025. More information on the McCloud/Remedy can be found in the McCloud Section of the website.
Any members affected by the changes received written notification in December 2023. The NIFRS Pension Scheme website will provide you with an understanding of how the remedy may impact your pension.
Current Position:
Unfortunately we have not been in a position to provide remedy statements to those retired from 01 February 2024.
This is not the position we want to be in but there has been slippage in our indicative timeframe as a result of issues around tax legislation and application of upgrades to the system. We are however continuing to make steady progress. The NIFRS Pensions Team are working closely with the HSC Pension Administrators to implement the necessary processes and system updates. At this stage, those who are retiring now or in the near future will have to retire under our existing processes until we have a fully functioning and accurate system in place. Those who wish to retire will be contacted at the earliest opportunity and provided with their own unique Remediable Service Statement (RSS) once the required administrative software and processes have been implemented.
The RSS will allow you to make an informed decision tailored to our own individual circumstances – you can choose to continue with your benefits as they are or to revert into the old scheme for the eligible period.
Should your choice mean that you are owed additional pension benefits, any net arrears owed plus interest, will be backdated to your date of retirement.
All eligible members will be contacted and offered their RSS before 31 March 2025.
Going Forward:
All updates will be published on the McCloud Section of the website along with other useful information as it becomes available.
The NIFRS Pensions Department at HQ and the HSC Pension Administration staff are working against really challenging deadlines to progress the McCloud Remedy. If you have queries, please check the website first. This will help to support us by allowing is to focus our time and resource on delivering the remedy for you.
Thank you for your patience during this time.