The saga is almost over.
The Great Injustice is about to be put right.
It seems that FireFighters and Police Officers who retired between 2001 and 2006, and who commuted any of their pension, were diddled out of some of their lump sum. Not just a little bit either. Retired FireFighter Billy Milne whose case was used by the FBU as a Test Case has been paid out somewhere in the region of £30,000
Between now and the end of the year thousands of us will now be waiting patiently to see the size of our cheques, hopefully a little more than 3 and sixpence.
But that’s not the real issue here.
The first is that this whole saga was brought about about by a deliberate act by the government (Civil Servants not politicians) who not only failed to put it right but fought every attempt viciously through the Courts in an attempt to resist it.
Interest is now payable on the shortfall, going back to 2001 in some cases, making the whole scenario exceedingly expensive, and the Pensions Ombudsman has decreed that the Income Tax on the Interest must be paid by Government, not the Pensioners involved.
I believe the total amount involved in this monumental cockup is in the region of £100 million.
Secondly, this success has been achieved in no small measure by the Stirling efforts of the FBU representing their retired members. Retired Police Officers who happen to be affected by the same problem benefit as well, but I have not seen any evidence of the Federation taking action to represent their retired members at all. I paid my subs for 30 years and then what? Seemingly NOTHING.
Many retired Police Officers are now discussing making financial contributions to the FBU by way of a Thank You.
They should be thanking the Federation surely? Except they don’t seem to have done anything.
NOTE TO FED
Please put me right in this if I am mis-informed.
Nice to know that the Federation continues to care about you after taking your money for 30 years.
Nice to know that the government can fight so hard to try and prevent you from getting what you are due.
There is discussion that the 1998 commutation figures review was inaccurate as well.
We shall see where that goes.
I don’t think we’ve seen the last of it yet, the 2001 figures are suspiciously low too, but I guess they’ve been accepted