A pension scheme for Merseyside fire fighters will be administered by the Lancashire Pension Fund from April this year.

The GBP 5.01bn Lancashire fund's Your Pension Service already provides administration to Cumbria County Council, Lancashire's police and crime commissioner, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service.

It will introduce reforms to the Merseyside scheme, including an increase in retirement age from 55 to 60 and an increase in the amount paid in by members.

In December, Lancashire Pension Fund announced it would pool all of its assets with the GBP 5.2bn London Pension Fund Authority to access large-scale investment opportunities, although each fund continues to be administered separately.

Merseyside Fire Authority finance director Ian Cummins, said this would provide an excellent platform for collaboration.

"Moving to Your Pension Service will means three of the largest fire services will now share the same pension administrator and this will offer an opportunity for greater collaboration between Lancashire, Cumbria and Merseyside Fire and Rescue services in meeting the pension challenge," said Ian Cummins.

"Hopefully together we can deliver the best pension service for our fire fighters."

Cummins also praised the fund's track record in communications.

"One of the key areas we identified as essential was the communication with our fire fighters on what the new scheme would mean to them."

"The challenge of moving to a new pension scheme, while keeping our members fully informed of the changes, meant we were keen to choose an organisation with a track record of delivery in this area," he said.

The Fire Fighters Pension Scheme, unlike the Local Government Pension Scheme, is unfunded.

This means it does not have a central fund which is invested; instead - money paid in by current workers and employers pays for the pensions of retired fire fighters.

Although it is a nationally-governed scheme, day-to-day payments are administered locally.

Diane Lister, head of Your Pension Service at Lancashire County Council, said: "We're delighted to be working with our new clients.

"We've already developed excellent working relationships with other public sector organisations and are pleased to have another new customer."

First published 12.02.2015

Lindsay.sharman@wilmington.co.uk