Federation issues further pensions update

15 February 2018

The judgements in appeals launched over changes to firefighters’ and judges’ pensions do not warrant the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) taking further legal advice on the police Career-Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) pension introduced in 2015, according to PFEW general secretary Andy Fittes.

Employment Appeal Tribunal rulings on the firefighters’ and judges’ pensions were published on 29 January 2018 and the Federation has been considering the impact of these on the police scheme since its earlier legal advice had led to it not mounting its own challenge to the new arrangements.

In a statement today, the general secretary said: “There is nothing in the judgements which changes the Federation’s policy position or that warrants us taking further legal advice at this point, but we will continue to monitor the situation.”

The cases brought on behalf of firefighters and judges did not challenge the introduction of the new CARE pension schemes themselves but the introduction and form of the transitional arrangements brought in at the same time. These provided preferential protective treatment to older members of the existing schemes.

Everyone involved in the legal action (the Government, firefighters and judges) agreed that the introduction of the transitional arrangements were directly discriminatory in terms of age.

So, the legal challenges hinged on one aspect alone: in order to justify the age discrimination caused by the transitional arrangements and therefore make them legal, it was necessary for the Government to demonstrate that they were a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

For more details, see the national Federation website.