Your details
Put these in first. The pension figure below is built from them.
Or start from a typical career
Fills example dates and pay. Overwrite with your own.
Where you work
National Grey Book. Switch to London if you are LFB - they earn more in basic pay.
31y in the job. Last day of service 15 May 2029. Retirement date 16 May 2029 at 55.
From the details above - based on today's wages
£19,168
a year before tax
£17,848 a year after tax
£1,597 a month before tax£1,487 a month after tax - if this fire pension is your only income
Plus a lump of £120,686, tax-free. No other income assumed. NI is not due on pension.
This is today's wages frozen - not a forecast of future pay. Use the wage growth slider below to project.
2015 in this figure
£2,662
a year before tax, already in the total above.
2015 lump at 12:1
£10,648
£4,510 a year before cash. Each 1% of that pension becomes £541 lump. Drag to zero if you will not commute the 2015 pot.
Active 2015 cut (before 60)
£961
21% off the full 2015 pot, before tax. England active factor - gone if you stay till 60.
Covers a minimum lifestyle
A moderate retirement still needs about £14,852 more a year.
1992 lump sum
Two different ceilings. The tax-free maximum is what HMRC allow without a charge (25% of lump + 20 × residual pension, and the £268,275 allowance). The scheme maximum is what the 1992 rules allow. You can take the extra — it is taxed at your marginal rate.
Factor 22.6 on the retirement date. Pension given up = lump ÷ factor.
Tax-free lump £110,038. Residual 1992 pension £16,506 a year before tax. You can switch to the scheme maximum and take £10,730 more, with about £2,146 tax (20%) on that extra.
1992 commutation factor
GAD England table from 21 May 2026. Unisex. Read by age in years and completed months on the retirement date - the day the pension starts, not last day of service. Crossing midnight into the next completed month can drop the factor by 0.1.
Factor used
22.6
at 55y 0m on 16 May 2029
Next factor
22.5
from 16 Jun 2029 (55y 1m)
Last day of service 15 May 2029. Retirement date 16 May 2029. This factor holds until the day before 16 Jun 2029. Last day of service that still keeps 22.6 is 15 Jun 2029.
On this 1992 pension, 25% cash is £120,768 at 22.6. From 16 Jun 2029 the same cash choice is £120,233 at 22.5 (£534 less).
Where it comes from
Scheme amounts before tax. After-tax totals are the smaller figures under the navy headline.
- 1992 scheme£16,506 / yr before tax
- 2015 scheme£2,662 / yr before tax
Income as it arrives
Last day of service 15 May 2029. Retirement date 16 May 2029 - the next calendar day, and the first day the fire pension is paid. Then age 55 (1992 CPI catch-up and 2015 if it was waiting), then the State Pension at 67. Large figures are before tax. After tax sits underneath, on this income only.
Retirement date · age 55y
16 May 2029
£19,168
a year before tax
£17,848 a year after tax · £1,487 a month
- Fire pension
- £19,168 / yr before tax
- State Pension
- not yet
Plus a lump of £120,686 at this point.
First day the fire pension is paid — the calendar day after last day of service. State Pension has not started.
+ £12,547 a year before tax when full new State Pension (2026/27)
State Pension at 67
16 May 2041
£31,715
a year before tax
£27,886 a year after tax · £2,324 a month
- Fire pension
- £19,168 / yr before tax
- State Pension
- £12,547 / yr before tax
Assumes the full new State Pension of £241.30 a week (£12,547 a year, 2026/27 rates). That needs a full National Insurance record — usually 35 qualifying years. The State Pension is taxable with your fire pension, so the extra take-home is less than the headline weekly rate. Check your own forecast on GOV.UK.
Combined at State Pension age: £31,715 a year before tax (£27,886 after tax, £2,324 a month). The State Pension bump is taxable with your fire pension - not the full £241 a week in your pocket.
What this buys you
Minimum
£13,900
covers it
Moderate
£32,700
£14,852 short
Comfortable
£45,400
£27,552 short
Compared with the after-tax fire pension, if that is your only income. PLSA living standards are spending, not take-home - one person, rest of UK. No state pension yet if the retirement date is 55-60.
Play with the figures
After your details are in, drag retirement age, lump, years, pay and wage growth. Last day of service is the day before the retirement date.
Sliders ready once this page has loaded.
Retire at 55 or wait till 60
Could I retire at 50?
McCloud — old scheme or 2015 for 2015–22
How we worked this out
Tax, part-time and extra options
With thanks
Built with help from people who know the schemes
Rob Moss
For invaluable input that made this calculator more accurate — checking the awkward edges of 1992 and 2015 so members are not guessing.
Carl Pullen
For the excellent, detailed spreadsheet that helped inspire this site — years of scheme logic set out clearly enough to build from.
Their help does not make this official. Your ABS and remediable service statement remain the real numbers.
Unofficial estimator. Not your FRS, not the scheme administrator, not the Home Office. It is a planning figure, not a quote. Your ABS and remediable service statement are the real numbers. Ill-health, injury awards and added pension are not in this.