Hutton Report on Public Sector Pensions: Work Longer; Pay More; Get Less
October 8, 2010 by admin
Filed under Members Circulars
CIRCULAR: 2010HOC0638MW 08 October 2010
TO:
ALL MEMBERS
view this Circular in
Dear Brother/Sister,
Hutton Report on Public Sector Pensions: Work Longer; Pay More; Get Less
Members and officials will be aware that the interim report from John Hutton on Public Sector Pensions was released on 7 October 2010.
The final report is expected in spring 2011 and it will make recommendations to Government on the future funding and benefit structures for Public Sector pensions.
The FBU responded to the early call to submit evidence to the Commission from John Hutton on the Pension Schemes in the Fire Service, which included the 1992 Firefighters Pension Scheme, the 2006 New Firefighters Pension Scheme and the New Look Local Government Pension Scheme.
The interim report indicates that there will be recommendations to address issues both in the short term and the long term. In the short term, John Hutton suggests that increasing employee contributions and changing pension benefit structures may be areas to consider; while in the long-term he may be making recommendations to replace Final Salary Schemes with Career Average Schemes and raising the retirement age.
The FBU was aware that these areas would be considered and our submission reflected the specific nature of a firefighter’s role and the recent reforms in the FPS and the introduction of the NFPS and New Look LGPS. You will be aware that these reforms were designed to ensure that Pension Schemes in the Fire Service remained affordable, sustainable and fair. These are all outlined by John Hutton as his objectives for the future Public Sector Pensions.
With the release of the interim review the media hype was obvious, and various stories suggested that Public Sector Pensions were spiralling out of control, were unaffordable, were an unfair burden on taxpayers and needed to be dramatically reformed. These stories were repeated continuously throughout the day.
FBU officials and members gave a great account of themselves, whenever they got the opportunity, in an attempt to restore some sort of reality to these over exaggerated claims. The FBU press release highlighted that firefighters pay up to 11% of their salary into their Pension Schemes and that they had already undergone reforms to ensure that they would be affordable, sustainable and fair for the future.
The FBU is the only organisation that represents firefighters working all duty systems and in all workplaces with members ranging from firefighters working in Fire Controls to Chief Fire Officers and is the only union in the Fire Service with a proven record of defending pensions.
Many media stories claimed that strikes are inevitable in an attempt to provoke a reaction from the FBU. Members need to recognise that this is an interim report and that the FBU will be corresponding with John Hutton and raising our concerns and providing any evidence to show that the Firefighters Pension Schemes have been reformed and are already sustainable, affordable and fair.
Media myths about the cost of Public Sector Pensions are commonplace and you will find a myth buster document attached. This briefing document is designed to highlight some reforms/attacks that have already taken place and to give you some ideas of responses you may wish to use when these myths are peddled.
There is no doubt that this is a worrying time for FBU members and Branch meetings will need to be arranged to discuss issues as they develop. However, you can be assured that the FBU will continue to defend the Pension Schemes of its members, and will continue to campaign to defend quality Public Sector Pensions.
The FBU will continue to raise objections whenever and wherever there is an attack on its members Pension Schemes and will be seeking further meetings with John Hutton to discuss the issues he has raised within this interim report.
Members should not be embarrassed that they have a quality Pension Scheme and should use the myth buster to educate people. The final report by John Hutton with his recommendations will be out in spring 2011 and although we will not rule out industrial action to defend our pensions it is important that we get a clearer picture before any decisions are taken.
The Hutton report marks another step in the long term attack on Public Sector Pensions. We will need to ensure that all members have discussed these and future proposals so as to ensure we are prepared to defend our pensions along with colleagues in other unions.
Yours in unity,
MATT WRACK
General Secretary
Read: Myth Busters about the Firefighters pension scheme as a PDF.
PAY – NATIONAL JOINT COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 2010
October 5, 2010 by admin
Filed under Members Circulars
CIRCULAR: 2010HOC0629MW 05 October 2010
TO: ALL MEMBERS
Dear Brother/Sister,
PAY – NATIONAL JOINT COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 2010
The National Joint Council met last week (30.09.10) and the Union again placed on the agenda the issue of pay. This was the first opportunity to discuss pay since the Employers wrote to the Union stating that they would not be making an offer on pay for 2010. The Employers’ stance at the NJC remained unchanged.
This stance was challenged by the FBU and the Employers were reminded of the following:
Pay in the Fire Service is not directly determined by government policy, but is determined by voluntary collective bargaining between the FBU and the Fire Service Employers.
In other words, government pay restraint has no binding impact on the Fire and Rescue Service.
In any case, the Employers have chosen to attack pay in advance of the demands from the government for a pay freeze.
Most Fire and Rescue Authorities have budgeted for a pay rise. We estimate that the average budgeted figure for 2010 was 1.7%.
The Employers have specifically rejected any idea of assisting the lower paid within the Service.
Despite the Employers’ calls for pay restraint on the majority, they continue at local level to grant very significant pay rises to Chief Fire Officers and other principal managers.
We reminded the Employers that firefighters have been through a significant period of change over the past seven years. All the targets met by the Service are achieved by firefighters i.e. by those who deliver our service on the front line. The Employers’ stance towards pay demonstrates very clearly that their claims to value the workforce and to want good industrial relations are completely hollow. The FBU rejects entirely the idea that pay restraint will, in some way, assist the economy recover. If anything, such policies are likely to exacerbate the difficulties in the economy rather than resolve them.
The stance on pay appears to reflect a hardening attitude towards industrial relations matters within our Service and obviously this is, in turn, influenced by the wider picture in Public Services. This confrontational approach is likely to produce industrial flashpoints in the coming months.
All Branches are asked to discuss this attack on our pay alongside the other attacks we are likely to face. The timing and scale of our response will be determined through the democratic structures of our Union, and it is essential the views of all Branches are reported to Brigade Committees.
Yours fraternally,
MATT WRACK
General Secretary
Regionalisation of Emergency Fire Controls – Letter to Prime Minister David Cameron
May 18, 2010 by admin
Filed under Campaigns, FiReControl - Regionalisation of Emergency Fire Controls, Members Circulars, News, News - Local, News - National
CIRCULAR: 2010HOC0336MW
14 May 2010
TO: ALL MEMBERS
Dear Brother / Sister
REGIONALISATION OF EMERGENCY FIRE CONTROLS – LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER
Members will be aware from our long running lobbying and campaigning that the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have both expressed very clear opposition to the Regionalisation of Fire Controls in England. The two parties now form the new Government.
Attached is a letter to the Prime Minister seeking a commitment from the Government to honour the pledges made on this issue prior to the election; the text of the letter also appears below.
Yours fraternally
MATT WRACK
GENERAL SECRETARY
Download the letter to the Prime Minister as a PDF
Text of letter to the Prime Minister:
14 May 2010
The Rt Hon David Cameron MP Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service 10 Downing Street London SW1A 2AADear Prime Minister
FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE – REGIONALISATION OF EMERGENCY FIRE CONTROLS
I am writing in regard to the new Government’s stance on the CLG FiReControl Project (Regionlisation of Emergency Fire Controls).
In the light of comments made before and during the election by Conservative spokepersons, firefighters will be watching closely the steps taken by the new Government. You may recall that you were asked by a Firefighter (Graham Donaldson) in Yorkshire on 24 April about the Fire Service. You said:
“One thing we would do to try and stop waste is the Regionalisation of Fire Service, the so-called ‘Fire Control Scheme; it was going to cost £100 million, it’s now costing £420 million. We will want to stop that in its tracks.”
We also noted comments on FiReControl in Conservative policy green paper, Control Shift: returning power to Local Communities (February 2010), which stated:
“We will… abandon plans to regionlise Fire Control (while providing new measures to enhance resilience in the case of a national emergency).” It added: “A Conservative government will follow the Scottish example and ditch this botched project, where such regional centres have not yet gone live. We will, instead, upgrade a small number of existing fire control centres to enable them to act as national ‘super centres’ in the extreme case of a national emergency.” (p.27, p.31)
We are also aware of Liberal Democrat opposition to Regional Controls. In March this year, the then Party Spokesperson Julia Goldsworthy told the FBU’s Firefighter magazine that the Government should think again over FiReControl. She said:
“The Liberal Democrats are opposed to the Government’s plans to centralise Fire Control. This project will mean vital knowledge is lost and this could risk the response time to incidents. The project has already proved to be too expensive and is likely to make the Service less rather than more responsive. WE have called for the project to be stopped and for existing Control Rooms to be upgraded as necessary to ensure the communications benefits sought by Government are dleivered by local Fire Brigade Control Rooms, as they will be in Scotland and are in Wales, without the need for Regionlisation.”
Given the wide political agreement between both Government parties on this issue, we would like an understanding from you that the FiReControl project will be scrapped, with a timetable for this process and for the upgrading of existing Control Rooms.
Your faithfully
MATT WRACK
General Secretary Fire Brigades Unioncc:
The Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP – Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council Eric Pickles MP – Secretary of State Communities and Local GovernmentRelated Links