The FBU has taken a big step forward in winning pension justice for retained firefighters, by reaching a formal agreement with the Home Office and fire employers.
This agreement means that many retained firefighters in England will have more of their career taken into account when their pension entitlements are worked out. Previous agreements have subsequently been applied to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Before this agreement was reached, only employment dating back to the introduction of the Part Time Worker Regulations, on 1 July 2000, was counted for the purposes of retained – on-call, or part-time - firefighters’ pension entitlements. The FBU is the only trade union fighting for retained firefighters.
Mark Rowe, FBU national officer said: “This is very good news for retained firefighters who will now be provided the opportunity to have previous employment as a retained firefighter count towards their pension, under the conditions of the Second Options Exercise Memorandum of Understanding. Some retained firefighters were previously losing out, so we’re delighted to successfully conclude these negotiations for our members. The government have been proved wrong time and time again when it comes to pensions, and we will continue to fight for justice for all of our members.”
The necessary amendments to the pension scheme regulations will take around 18 months to pass through the Westminster parliament, meaning affected members’ should expect claims to be resolved once that legislation has passed.
We're delighted to successfully conclude these negotiations for members
The second options exercise is open to those with relevant retained service which began before 6 April 2006, regardless of whether the retained firefighter presented a claim to the Employment Tribunal or not. Crucially, this applies to retained members’ who served between 7 April 2000 and 5 April 2006, regardless of whether they declined and of membership under the first options exercise.
Retained firefighters with exclusively post 1 July 2000 service will be excluded from this agreement 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 fire authority is able to prove that such retained 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.
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