Dear Brother / Sister
Section 1. General Information
Since Monday 5 March 2012, many FBU members who undertake retained duties, will have been sent their offer letter in respect of the FBU negotiated settlement following the FBU legal victory in the Employment Tribunal.
The information regarding the offer and process for members making a decision on that offer can be found on the FBU website. You should also be able to find this information on your FBU notice board.
Members who will be entitled to a payment fall into two broad groups :-
a) €œoriginal claimants€, who are:-
- FBU members who held a distinct retained duties contract with a fire and rescue service, and
- had an ET1 claim submitted on their behalf by the FBU in the year 2000.
These members will be entitled to a payment whether still employed in a fire and rescue service or not, as long as they were still employed by the FRS on 1 July 2000.
b) €œeligible employees€ ' these are FBU members who :-
- hold a distinct retained duties contract and were still employed by a FRS on 30 June 2010, and who
- did not have an ET1 submitted to the ET in 2000.
For the avoidance of doubt, members working the day crewing system will not be entitled to a payment, unless they have, very unusually, two separate contracts in respect of (a) their cover during the day time, and (b) their 'evening' cover. All known day crew contracts are singular, so no payment is due.
Members performing wholetime/retained duties will be eligible for the period during which they have held a separate retained duties contract. It is unlikely that there will be any 'claimants' in this category, as wholetime/retained duties were against FBU policy in the year 2000.
Members holding a separate retained contract will not be entitled to a payment if they are working in the Isle of Man, as the ET case does not apply in the Isle of Man.
As stated at the beginning of this circular, most FBU members who are either €œclaimants€ or €œeligible members€ will have been sent details of the offer, in a letter sent on 5 March 2012
Some will not. This circular provides information to members who are :-
(a) Entitled to a payment; and
(b) Do not receive a letter containing an offer.
Section 1A Categories of members/individuals not receiving any communication.
Fire and rescue service employeeswho do not receive a letter, but who match the criteria (a) and (b) in the paragraph above, will fall into one of the following categories :-
(i) Individual did not have service between 1 July 2000 - 30 June 2010, and in the case of non-original claimants, ceased employment before 30 June 2010 and therefore will not be made an offer at any time.
(ii) Individual is not an FBU member. These individuals should seek assistance from their fire managers or representative body.
(iii) Individual is an FBU member, but has not received a letter because the address recorded with their fire and rescue service is incorrect, and the letter has been sent to their 'old' address.
(iv) Individual is an FBU member, but letter has been lost in the post.
(v) Individual is an FBU member and is an €œunmatched€ member who will have been sent a form but may not have received it.
(vi) Individual is an FBU member and is :-
- A dual claimant of FBU and RFU; or
- a dual member of FBU and RFU.
(vii) Individual is an FBU member but is not on the claimant lists submitted to the ET and the FRS does not recognize him/her as an eligible employee, and has therefore not calculated an offer.
Section 2. Action To Be Taken - Using The Website
Section 2A First essential steps
All FBU members who qualify for a payment from their FRS as an eligible employee or an original claimant must go to the dedicated website: www.retainedfirefighterclaims.org.uk
You should log in using your surname and National Insurance number, and membership number.
Please enter the details carefully in accordance with the online instructions.
Please do try all three of the options available on the dedicated website before seeking assistance elsewhere. The vast majority of members' problems will be remedied by doing so.
This will assist members in categories (iii), (iv) and (v) above
Category (v) '€œUnmatched€ claimants
FBU circular 2012HOCOO43AD gave details of a situation which has been identified that it has not been possible, for whatever reason, to marry up the name of a member with a qualifying claimant record. In some cases this may be because a claim was submitted in error for a member who did not work retained duties in the reference period (1 July 2000- 30 June 2010).
Letters have been sent to the members seeking certain information. It doesn't matter too much if you are one of these people and have not received the letter. You will be able to access the website (third option ie the one which says €œI am a member of the FBU and need to confirm my details€.
Section 2B €œI have checked the website and I just don't seem to be known to the 'system'.€
This is likely to be because you are either a dual claimant or a dual eligible employee (category (vi) or your fire and rescue service has not identified you as qualifying.
Dual claimants
It has become apparent that a small number of fire and rescue service employees had ET1 forms submitted by themselves or on their behalf in year 2000, or thereafter by both the FBU and the RFU.
Dual eligible members
Popularis has been able to identify a small number of employees who are showing on the RFU and FBU membership databases.
Section 3. What should I do now?
Section 3A Checking your status
Once you have carried out ALL the options on the website and have not located your offer/request for details, you will need to find out if you are:-
Group 1. a dual claimant; or,
Group 2. A dual eligible employee; or,
Group 3. Not identified by your FRS as qualifying for a payment even though you meet the criteria.
You need to contact your Regional Office who will be able to assist. Please be aware, the Regional Office may refer you to another Official. This is not to give you €œthe runaround€. It is because Regional Officials will have made the best arrangements to suit local needs.
You will appreciate why it is so important for you to try to locate yourself via the website. Most of our Officials are not on full-time release. They work at fire stations and do their union duties in their own time. There are over 19000 FBU members and out of trade members who are entitled to an offer. Officials dealing with the matter locally will be overwhelmed if members simply opt to €œcall the union€. It is precisely for this reason that we have set up the dedicated website.
Our local Officials will only be able to identify if you are in one of three groups shown above.
Section 3B What will happen to dual claimants and dual eligible employees?
We have written to all the unmatched members. Like them, once arrangements have been made to deal with this issue you will be contacted and informed how to proceed. Like the €œunmatched€, a new timetable will apply to you.
Section 3C What will happen to members who are inaccurately unacknowledged by fire and rescue authorities as qualifying for a payment?
If you are a member that appears on no list whatsoever, then you will have to write to your fire and rescue service using the letter shown on Appendix A.
For the avoidance of doubt, the fire and rescue service which you should write to is that with which you hold a retained duties contract.
We strongly advise that:-
- You send the letter as hard copy and by email.
- You keep a copy.
- You send a copy to the FBU (at least two named brigade officials). The local officials will advise you off the details.
Section 4. Colleagues not in the FBU
You may find that colleagues of yours who are not in the FBU have received an offer as part of the FBU process sent by Popularis. This will be because they are on the FBU database. They are different people to those who have been identified as Dual Claimants or Dual Eligibles.
It is entirely up to them what they do with the letter but we will only act for FBU members. They should be aware that the RFU process is lagging behind the FBU process and payments will be made earlier to FBU members than anyone else. They are at liberty to accept the offer circulated as part of the FBU process but they are not obliged to. It is entirely up to them what they do with the offer letter.
The FBU will not process €œspecial circumstances€ cases for non-FBU members.
I hope that the information set out above used in conjunction with the previous circulars sent out on this matter has been of assistance.
Best wishes.
Yours fraternally
Andy Dark
Assistant General Secretary
Appendix A
Suggested Wording Of Letter To Be Sent To The FRS Once You Have Identified For Certain That You Have Not Been Acknowledged By Your Fire And Rescue Service
Dear xxxxxx
Claim under the terms of the agreement reached at the NJC in relation to the part time workers (regulations) settlement
I am a retained firefighter currently working for xxxxxx fire and rescue service. I can confirm that I was employed by a fire and rescue service during the period. I am therefore eligible for a payment under the agreement.
My enquiries suggest that an offer has not been made by xxxxxxx fire and rescue service. This letter registers my claim for a payment to be made.
My details are:
- Your surname, first and other forenames
- FBU Membership number (if known)
- National Insurance number
- Current address, including post code
- Previous address 1 (if applicable)
- Contact telephone number (preferably one with an answer-phone)
- Period of service with current FRS
- Substantive Role (rank)
- Name of any other FRS you worked for in the period 1 July 2000- 30 June 2010 (if applicable)
- Period of that service (rank/role does not need to be given for this service)
Yours sincerely
2012HOCO154AD
