Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require fire authorities to provide a full pension to fire fighters between the ages of 55 and 60 if they fail a fitness test due to no fault of their own and cannot be employed in another role within the fire service.

It is not possible to introduce fitness regulations as part of the pension regulations in the absence of an agreed and universally applied national firefighter fitness standard in England. The statutory principles that we put in the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England came into force on 12 January. To underpin these, the National Employers have sought further discussion with the Fire Brigades Union in respect of additional guidance relating to the position already agreed in principle within the National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services. This discussion will be about the role fire authorities will take in supporting operational employees in maintaining their fitness. In addition, the National Employers are looking to discuss with the unions, guidance on the application of the factors set out in pension regulations for fire authority consideration in relation to Authority Initiated Early Retirement. Both approaches are expected to provide reassurance to operational employees that fire authorities will continue to treat their employees in a fair and consistent manner.

We will review the implementation of the National Framework principles in three years time and consider then whether further action is needed. In the meantime no firefighter will have to work beyond their current expected retirement date until 2022 at the earliest. Our expectation is that a firefighter of 55 or over who finds themselves in the situation of losing their fitness through no fault of their own, is subsequently unable to regain their fitness, and for whom there are no redeployment opportunities, should be offered an unreduced pension.