The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service Local Pension Board met on Tuesday, 27 January 2026, to discuss a comprehensive business update. The meeting's agenda included a review of membership movements within the firefighters' pension schemes, updates on various ongoing and future business issues, and a discussion of the Firefighters' Pension Schemes Risk Register.

Business Update

The core of the meeting was a detailed business update concerning the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Services. This update covered several key areas:

Membership Movements

The report provided statistics on membership within the Firefighters' Pension Schemes for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly as of 31 December 2025. This included figures for active, deferred, and pensioner members across the 1992, 2006, and 2015 schemes. For the Cornwall Firefighters Pension Scheme, there were 27 deferred members and 256 pensioner members. The 2015 scheme showed a total of 597 active members. For the Council of the Isles of Scilly Firefighters Pension Schemes, there were 44 active members, 32 deferred members, and 10 pensioner members.

LGA FPS Bulletins

The Board was scheduled to review updates from the Local Government Association (LGA) Firefighters' Pension Scheme (FPS) bulletins issued in September, October, November, and December 2025. These bulletins contained information and actions for scheme managers, administrators, and local pension boards. Actions arising from Bulletin 97 included a request for data for the Matthews Project Implementation and encouragement for training and development. Bulletin 98 highlighted updated HMRC Offsetting of Unauthorised Payments Reporting Templates and guidance, as well as a new template for Matthews cases. Bulletin 99 encouraged review of revised data quality guidance from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and recommended updates to transfer discharge forms. Bulletin 100 had no specific actions arising.

Governance and Risk Management

The meeting was set to review the Firefighters' Pension Schemes Risk Register, which had been approved in February 2017. No new risks had been added since the previous meeting, but additional information had been incorporated into Risk 4 concerning the move to an externally hosted cloud-based solution for pension software, and Risks 14 and 16 to reflect the move to monthly collection of active membership data. Risk 23, relating to the Pensions Dashboards Programme, was scheduled for removal from the register as the risk of not connecting was no longer considered to exist.

The Breaches Register was also to be discussed. A breach of regulations concerning the late production and distribution of Annual Benefit Statements (ABS) for the 2025 scheme year was noted. This affected active and deferred firefighter members in the 1992 and 2006 schemes eligible for remedy, impacting both Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly FRAs. The breach had been reported to the Regulator.

Complaints and Appeals

The Firefighters' Pension Schemes Complaint Log was to be reviewed. Since the last meeting, two new complaints had been received from ex-retained firefighters eligible for the Matthews Second Options exercise, relating to delays in receiving their initial offer package or recalculation. The FRA had responded, explaining the complexity and workload involved.

An update on ongoing appeals through the Internal Disputes Resolution Procedure (IDRP) was also scheduled. Two new appeals had been received: one from an ex-firefighter concerning the Matthews Second Options Exercise, which was determined to make the appellant ineligible, and another from a firefighter regarding a Secondary Contract issue, which remained under consideration.

CFRS Finance Update

An update from CFRS Finance was to be provided, including information on Age Discrimination Remedy Pensions Compensation Payments, with Home Office reimbursement for eligible costs. The Home Office Pensions account forecasting for 2025-26 through to 2030-31 had also been completed and submitted.

Age Discrimination Remedy (McCloud/Sargeant)

The meeting was scheduled to discuss the Age Discrimination Remedy, commonly referred to as 'McCloud' or 'Sargeant'. This remedy addresses age discrimination in the Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2015 (FPS 2015) and its predecessor schemes. The report detailed the prospective and retrospective changes, including the transfer of protected members into FPS 2015 from April 2022 and the 'roll back' of benefits for the remedy period. It also outlined the requirements for Annual Benefit Statements/Remediable Service Statements (ABS/RSS) for active and deferred members, and the immediate choice (IC) for pensioner members. Updates were also expected on specific cases, including ill-health pensioners and beneficiaries.

Matthews Second Options Exercise

The Matthews Second Options Exercise, which allows retained firefighters to purchase pension entitlement as a special member of the FPS 2006, was to be discussed. The report detailed the history of the exercise, the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed in March 2022, and the regulations that came into force on 1 October 2023. The exercise allows eligible individuals to backdate their membership for specific periods. The report indicated that substantial progress had been made, but a significant volume of cases remained outstanding. An extension to the original deadline was anticipated.

Secondary Contracts

An issue identified with the administration of contracts for some Wholetime firefighters who had undertaken On Call (retained) duties under a secondary contract was on the agenda. A challenge had been made arguing these should be treated as a single contract of employment. This could lead to underpayments of contributions and require corrections to records and benefits. Data gathering had been completed, and advice sought to ensure fair and equitable treatment. Meetings had been held with the FBU and their legal advisers to agree on a consistent approach.

Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP)

The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) was scheduled for discussion. The report outlined the key benefits of Pensions Dashboards, including a consolidated view of pension savings and assistance with retirement planning. All pension schemes are required to connect to the dashboard ecosystem by 31 October 2026, with public service pension schemes needing to connect by 31 October 2025. The Cornwall Pension Fund (CPF) had chosen to connect via an Integrated Service Provider (ISP) and had engaged in a data cleansing exercise. The fund had connected to the dashboard ecosystem on 29 October 2025, ahead of the DWP guidance deadline.

Collection of Membership Data

The implementation of a new data portal, i-Connect, for the Firefighters' Pension Scheme was to be discussed. This system automates the submission of pension data from employers to the Fund, replacing year-end returns with monthly online data submissions. Benefits include reduced administration time, more accurate data, and earlier provision of Annual Benefit Statements. The first transfer of data from Oracle for the Firefighters' Pension Scheme had taken place in December, with all data issues resolved.

The meeting also included a review of the Firefighters' Pension Schemes Risk Register, Breaches Log, and Complaint Log, as well as updates on the Matthews Second Options Exercise and Secondary Contracts.

The report pack also included appendices detailing the Firefighters' Pension Schemes Risk Register, Breaches Log, and a progress/highlight report for the Matthews Second Options Exercise. The recommendation from the report was that the members of the Board note the update provided and seek clarifications or further assurance from officers as required.