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Wiltshire Police Federation

Government needs to get its act together on pensions

27 June 2019

Polfed News

The Government needs to take urgent action about millions of public sector pensions including those for the police service, the Federation warns today.

Following a ruling by the Supreme Court in favour of the Fire Brigades Union, National Chair John Apter said the matter had been dragging on for far too long and police officers deserve a quick resolution.

Mr Apter said: "Today we have received the decision of the Supreme Court which has refused the Government leave to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal which had previously held that the transitional pension arrangements for Firefighters and Judges were illegal on the grounds of age discrimination.

"While I appreciate the demand for immediate answers, we have to wait for the Government to respond to the Supreme Court’s announcement, analyse their decision and establish what it means for all our members.

"What I can tell you is that the Police Federation along with other key stakeholders in policing are meeting on Monday 1st July to discuss the implications of this ruling. We will update you as soon as we have more information. Please understand this is a highly complex matter, and we won’t have answers for you immediately – but as soon as we do we will let you know."

Mr Apter added that the Federation had been urging the Government for some time to come to an industrial resolution for all public sector pensions.

Today’s announcement follows the Court of Appeal judgement in December 2018.