The Division of Retirement's mission is to provide high quality, innovative and cost-effective retirement services to members and employers of the Florida Retirement System (FRS) and to oversee local government retirement systems.

The Department of Management Services' Division of Retirement is organized as follows.

• Bureau of Enrollment and Contributions enrolls members and employers and receives employer contributions. In Fiscal Year 2019-20, it processed 99.99% of monthly payrolls from FRS employers within five days, so that individuals' updated retirement information was quickly available. The bureau also administers the State University System Optional Retirement Program, the Community College Optional Retirement Plan, and the Senior Management Service Optional Annuity Program.
• Bureau of Retirement Calculations computes retirement benefits, processes requests for estimated benefits, and issues annual statements. In Fiscal Year 2019-20, active members requesting a benefit calculation received an answer in an average of 8.97 business days.
• Bureau of Benefit Payments distributes retirement benefits to retirees and survivors, coordinates Deferred Retirement Option Program payouts, and determines eligibility for disability benefits. In Fiscal Year 2019-20, it processed 100% of retirees' payrolls timely and added 99.88% of service retirees to the next payroll after receipt of all documents.
• Bureau of Local Retirement Systems monitors Florida's local public retirement systems and oversees local police and firefighter pensions.
• Bureau of Research, Education, and Training develops FRS publications, analyzes legislation, promulgates rules, responds to public records requests, coordinates actuarial services, publishes the FRS Pension CAFR and GASB 67/68 Liability Report, and trains new and current employees. 
• Contact Center provides customer service to FRS non-retired members, retirees, beneficiaries, employers, and other stakeholders.
• Bureau of Business Support Services coordinates the division's budget, provides general administrative services, and processes incoming and outgoing mail.

The division's primary responsibility is to administer the Florida Retirement System Pension Plan. It also administers several smaller retirement programs, as well as the Retiree Health Insurance Subsidy Program and the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP).
The division also oversees and monitors the actuarial soundness of local government retirement systems that are not part of the Florida Retirement System, as well as pension plans for municipal police and firefighters under Chs. 185 and 175, Florida Statutes. In addition, the division is responsible for approving the distribution of insurance premium tax revenues to qualified municipal police officer and firefighter pension plans.

The Legislature established the Florida Retirement System in 1970. The system provides retirement, disability, and death benefits to retirees or their designated beneficiaries and offers a wide range of information services to non-retired members. The system is funded through employer contributions, employee contributions, and investment earnings and serves government employees that fall into five employee membership classes.

• Regular Class consists of FRS members who do not qualify for membership in any other class.
• Special Risk Class consists of members who meet the criteria to qualify for membership in this class and are employed as law enforcement officers, firefighters, correctional officers, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, correctional probation officers, or youth custody officers. It also includes specified professional health care positions in the Department of Corrections and Department of Children and Family Services.
• Special Risk Administrative Support Class consists of Special Risk Class members who are moved, reassigned to, or reemployed in an administrative support position with a law enforcement, firefighting, correctional, or emergency medical care agency under the FRS.
• Senior Management Service Class consists of members in senior management level positions within state and local government agencies.
• Elected Officers' Class consists of elected state and county officers, including the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, cabinet officers, legislators, Supreme Court justices, district court of appeal judges, circuit judges, county court judges, state attorneys, and public defenders. Elected county officials may also belong to this class, as may municipal or special district elected officers designated for membership by their respective governing bodies.

As of June 30, 2020, the Florida Retirement System had 644,338 active members who were covered by the provisions of the system and 432,258 annuitants, which represented a 0.56% decrease in membership and a 1.73% increase in annuitants. As of June 30, 2020, the Florida Retirement System also had 33,593 members participating in the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP).  Regular Class membership comprised 85.37%, Special Risk Class membership comprised 11.66%, and Senior Management Services Class comprised 1.21%. All other classes combined comprised of 1.76% of FRS members.

Participating employers include all state and county government agencies, school boards, state universities and community colleges, and many cities and special districts. As of June 30, 2020, school district employees comprised the largest percentage of FRS members (48.5%), followed by county (23.4%) and state employees (15.2%).

Florida Retirement System members have several plan options.

• Pension Plan. The Division of Retirement administers this retirement option. The Pension Plan is a defined benefit plan funded by employee contributions (3% of the employee's salary), employer contributions, and investment earnings. The division transfers the contributions to the State Board of Administration, which is responsible for investing FRS assets. The employer guarantees a certain level of benefit payment and bears the risk that investment returns will not support that level of benefits. A participant's retirement benefit is based on a formula taking into account factors such as salary level, years of service, compensation, and FRS membership class.
• Investment Plan. The State Board of Administration administers this plan, also known as the Public Florida Retirement System Investment Plan. Participants are guaranteed a certain level of contributions from their employers and must contribute 3% of their salaries to the program. Participants select how to invest these funds from a list of authorized investment accounts. Participants bear the risk of poor investment returns, but after meeting certain requirements can take their retirement accounts with them if they no longer work for an employer participating in the FRS. A participants' retirement benefit is the amount of money accumulated in the investment account at termination.
• Hybrid Plan. This plan allows members to participate in the Investment Plan for all future contributions and keep current accrued Pension Plan benefits frozen in that plan.

In Fiscal Year 2019-20, the Florida Retirement System paid $10.2 billion in annual benefits to annuitants, with the average annual benefit equaling $23,712.

On March 30, 2020, Governor DeSantis signed Executive Order 20-88 authorizing Florida Retirement System (FRS) participating employers to utilize recent retirees who have retired since October 1, 2019, or who may retire prior to or on August 1, 2020, under a state administered retirement system to provide essential work or essential services during this state of emergency without impacting their retirement benefits. Employers will not incur liability related to retirees working or providing essential services in response to COVID-19 during their 12-month limitation period for the duration of Executive Order 20-52, including any extensions.

Other Reports
The FRS provides plan information and trustee reports on its website.

Florida Retirement System Pension Plan And Other State Administered Systems Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2020, Department of Management Services, 2020.  

Florida Retirement System Pension Plan And Other State Administered Systems Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2019, Department of Management Services, 2019.

 
Florida Retirement System Pension Plan Actuarial Valuation as of July 1, 2020, Milliman, December 1, 2020.

2019 Wilshire Report on State Retirement Systems:  Funding Levels and Asset Allocation, Wilshire Consulting, March 2019.  

Websites of Interest
National Association of State Retirement Administrators
National Institute of Pension Administrators
Pensions and Investments Online
State and Local Government Benefits Association
Employee Benefits Research Institute

Performance Information

Performance measures and standards for the department may be found in its Long Range Program Plan.

Chapters 112 (Public Officers and Employees; Retirement), 121 (Florida Retirement System), 122 (State and County Officers and Employees Retirement System), 175 (Firefighter Pensions), 185 (Municipal Police Pensions), 238 (Teachers' Retirement System), 250 (Military Affairs) and 650 (Social Security for Public Employees), Florida Statutes.

Division of Retirement, 850-907-6500

Website