I raised the issue of the misinformation circulating about who is covered by the recent House of Lords ruling on retained pension rights at today’s meeting at the ODPM offices of the Firefighters’ Pension Committee. The Chair of the meeting, Martin Hill confirmed:
- Whatever the outcome of these roceedings, these will apply to all RDS, irrespective of union membership
- Backdated pension rights will not be limited to those serving RDS who put in Tribunal applications
- The previous “Preston” test cases on “part-time” pension rights that took many years to go through the Courts and ended up at the European Court of Justice is a clear precedent as this applied to all those covered by the ruling, irrespective of union membership and completion of a Tribunal applications
- It would clearly be inappropriate to restrict the outcome to only those who had applied
Matters will become clearer when we know if the House of Lords decision is going to go back to the original Employment Tribunal, or if the Employers/ODPM will agree to a resolution. The Government will ensure this will involve all stakeholder unions.
We will keep members informed.
In the meantime, if you have left the Service, or intend to leave shortly, and have not completed an IT1 Tribunal Form, then you are advised to do so within three months of leaving, by contacting RFU Head Office.
Attempts to mislead you into believing pension backdating is restricted to any particular trade union membership is wrong
Derek Chadbon
General Secretary
Retained Firefighters Union
|
