FBU criticises pensions delay

The FBU firefighters’ union has accused the government of dragging its heels over pension improvements for firefighters and other public sector workers. And it is demanding that the cost of ending discriminatory pension practices does not impact on the valuation of the pensions.


In 2015, the government decided to keep older firefighters on better pension schemes while younger members were moved onto a new, worse scheme.


The Court of Appeal ruled in December 2018 that this was discriminatory on grounds of age, sex and race, and the government was denied an appeal to the Supreme Court. The government subsequently confirmed that the ruling will be applied across all public sector pensions.


But a cost-control mechanism, which would have improved public sector pensions, was paused in January because the Treasury claimed that the cost of remedying discriminatory pension arrangements would impact the pension valuations.


The FBU said the pause has been imposed on all public service pensions and has withheld improved benefits from hundreds of thousands of workers. The cost of these improvements to pensions was passed on to employers in April, but the benefits to employees are still being withheld.


In a letter to Rishi Sunak, chief secretary to the Treasury, the union has demanded an increase in pension benefits and the decoupling of the cost-control mechanism from the FBU’s legal victory on age discrimination.

https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2019/08/08/stop-%E2%80%9Cpainful%E2%80%9D-hold-up-improving-our-pensions-firefighters-say