An open letter from the Fire Minister leaves basic questions on pensions unanswered and is misleading on others, firefighters today claimed.
Brandon Lewis MP wrote to firefighters earlier this week after the government’s deadline to agree proposed cuts to pensions and make firefighters work until 60 forced the FBU to ballot for strike action.
Fire Brigades Union General Secretary, Matt Wrack, said: “The minister rightly says firefighters need the facts, but after two years of negotiations, we have not been told many of the basic details of the government’s proposals.
“No one in government has been able to tell us how much firefighters will be expected to pay under their scheme, nor what will happen to the countless firefighters who are likely to fail fitness tests as they get older.
“These are crucial issues to firefighters – and to public safety. The government must stop issuing incomplete or misleading information and come back to the negotiating table until we find a workable pension scheme that takes into account the occupational requirements of the job.”
The FBU has written a response to Lewis’ letter for its members, raising several points of contention:
– – Firefighters have already seen a significant increase in their contributions with more on the horizon. Firefighters in 2011 already paid 11% of their salary in pension contributions by 2014 this will be at least 14.2%.
– – Firefighters who cannot maintain operational fitness until age 60 could face the sack on capability grounds – governments own figures for current 55-60 year olds indicate that 66% of current employees are below the recommended fitness levels
– – Although the government claims that benefits will be unchanged, the price firefighters pay for them will
The FBU has also issued a response to the ‘Firefighters’ pension scheme reforms: factsheet’, which was sent out earlier this week, in which it refutes many of the government’s claims, including over retirement age and comparisons to private sector pensions.
Lewis will take part in a Department for Communities and Local Government ‘phone in’ on pensions Thursday morning between 10 and 11am.
