The Government has today been refused leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal’s judgement that the ‘transitional arrangements’ put in place for the Fire Fighters when their new 2015 Pension was introduced were unlawful.
That has exhausted all legal avenues and the Court of Appeal’s judgement now stands. The Government will therefore have to compensate those firefighters affected accordingly. The same goes for judges who were also the subject of the Court of Appeal decision.
Next question is whether this will read across to the rest of the public sector. The precise terms of transitional arrangements varied across the public sector, so it does not automatically follow that change must now be made concerning all the new schemes introduced in 2015, but there are increasingly strong indications that it is likely to. However, as yet we have not seen a statement from the government or the MOD concerning the full implications of the judgement.
As soon as we hear something definitive we will pass it on. But even if the government capitulates on all fronts, do not expect an instant result. Resolving this issue will be a huge administrative problem across the public sector. It is likely to be extremely time consuming, and answers will be slow emerge.
You can read the full press release from the Fire Brigades Union here
