Dear Brother/Sister
RDS Employment Tribunal Pension Claims
(Matthews and others v Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority and others)
All Members Circular 2021HOC0445MR 23 August 2021 (relevant section reproduced as appendix) provided an update on the negotiations with the Home Office and the FRAs nationally to bring final settlement to the pensions aspects of the Employment Tribunal claims brought on behalf of Retained Duty System (RDS) Members under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 (‘PTWR’).
- Successful conclusion of negotiations
Those negotiations have now been concluded successfully. A Memorandum of Understanding has been agreed between the Fire Brigades Union, the Home Office and FRA employers nationally, which will form the basis of changes to the pension scheme regulations.
The FBU can therefore confirm as follows:
- It has been agreed with the Home Office and FRAs that Members’ claims will be resolved via a second options exercise, pursuant to legislation; and
- A detailed explanation of the terms of the second options exercise will be provided once the required legislation has been produced by the Home Office in draft.
This means that, once the necessary amendments have been made to the pension scheme regulations, there will be a second options exercise open to those with relevant RDS service which began before 6 April 2006, regardless of whether the RDS firefighter presented a claim to the Employment Tribunal or not. With one exception (below), this will apply to those with service as an RDS firefighter between 7 April 2000 and 5 April 2006, regardless of whether they declined an offer of membership of the NFPS under the first options exercise.
The exception will be RDS firefighters with exclusively post 1 July 2000 service because the offer they would receive under the second options exercise would not include any service in excess of that which should have been included in the offer under the first options exercise. If the FRA is able to prove that such RDS firefighters were given an opportunity to take part in the first options exercise, they will not be entitled to take part in the second options exercise.
It will take 18 months for the necessary legislation to amend the pension regulations to be prepared and passed through parliament. The second options exercise will start once that legislation has been passed.
For the time being, the Memorandum of Understanding applies only to those employed in England. However, previous agreements have subsequently been applied to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Unresolved issue: transfers from RDS to wholetime
There is, however, an area under further consideration in relation to transfers from RDS to wholetime employment. This is likely to apply in the main to members who transferred from RDS to wholetime employment before 6 April 2006. But it could also arise for those who transferred from RDS to wholetime employment after that date. This issue will be the subject of a further Circular, to follow shortly, which will invite members to submit details via an online questionnaire.
Members who will be invited to submit details via the online questionnaire will be as follows:
- Members who were previously employed on the Retained Duty System who transferred to wholetime employment before 6 April 2006 (without a break), and joined the FPS, and for whom:
the sum of (a) RDS service expressed as a proportion of wholetime service* and (b) wholetime service, will reach at least 20 years before the member reaches age 55; and
- Members who were previously employed on the RDS who transferred to wholetime service after 6 April 2006 (without a break), and who joined the NFPS in respect of their wholetime employment and who also took up membership of the NFPS in respect of their RDS employment under the first options exercise and for whom:
the sum of (a) RDS service expressed as a proportion of wholetime employment* and (b) wholetime employment, will reach at least 20 years before the member reaches age 55.
In the case of both categories, members do not need to have reached 20 years’ employment in respect of aggregated RDS and wholetime employment already. Members to be invited to come forward will be those who will reach 20 years’ aggregated RDS and wholetime employment by the time they reach age 55.
Further details of the online questionnaire exercise will follow shortly. In the meantime, members who may be affected by this issue are asked to have ready the following information:
- Name of employer:
- Date of start of RDS service:
- Gross pay as an RDS firefighter per year:
- Date of transfer to wholetime service:
- Whether the member took up membership of the NFPS for RDS service under the first options exercise.
Members in either category will also be asked to have available, so far as possible, their pension statements and pay slips covering their wholetime and RDS employment. If members took part in the first options exercise, they will be asked to have available the pensions statement they will have received at the time from their FRS setting out the benefits to which they would be entitled. Please do not send these documents to us at this stage. We will ask you for them when they are needed.
Yours in unity,
Mark Rowe
National Officer
