• The ‘Fire’ Minister – Fire Service Pensions(New Appointee)

                             The ‘Matelot’ goeth and the ‘TA'(temporary soldier~the polite version) cometh;

                             (Promotional Rule-always follow a failure);

• Rt Hon Mike Penning (Sir Michael Alan “Mike” Penning M.P.);

• Rt.Hon B. K. LewisM.P.;

• Hon(Hereditary) Nicholas Hurd M.P.;   

The departure of Junior Minister Penelope ‘Matelot’ Mordaunt M.P from the DCLG to pastures new on promotion as Armed Forces Minister at the MoD simply  demonstrates  how a junior Minister can in 7 months make a complete mess of her portfolio and still be ‘promoted’.

Little wonder politics and politicians continue to terminally damage any credibility they have left.

Her promotion fills the vacancy left by Rt Hon Mark Francois MP as Armed Forces Minister at the MoD who has now been promoted and appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government.

One wonder which organisation, the military, or the Fire Service, got the best of this deal?

It looks rather like one of those ‘ Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news ?’ scenarios.

However, the Fire Service must be grateful for small mercies because its portfolio has now been transferred up to a Minister of State from a junior minister, or is this in anticipation of more Fire Service industrial unrest which will surely follow the imposition of the latest 2015 Pension Scheme?

The lesson does not seemed to have been learned.

No government can expect to attract the highest calibre of recruits to the Fire Service if it fails to provide those it expects to risk life and limb in defence of their communities with a safety net in the form a decent pension as a personal family insurance policy.

Meantime those who joined recently since 2006 will haemorrhage away to a better career with better prospects; departures which will occur statistically from years 1-5 and again between 5-10 years of Service, the very seed corn of any organisation. 

Perhaps Minister Francois should be encouraged to spend less time reading military history as a former member of the Territorial Army (TA) which on statistical average goes to war every 20 years as opposed to Fire Service history which lays it life and limb on the line 24/7/365 for him.

Indeed reading up on the Fire Service history, or reading himself into his brief, might be a useful Ministerial idea, who, can the Bugler remind him also in ‘military’ terms, went in on Omaha Beach (Pointe du Hoc) on D-Day with the US Army Rangers Assault Group using 100ft turntable ‘scaling’ ladders whilst inshore with its fireboats…

He also seems to be following the promotional rule, always, if one has a choice, follow a failure in this case Mordaunt’s failure to pay the slightest interest in the underpayment  of disability pensions to Fire Service Veterans, their Widows, and their Beneficiaries, or the small matter of the commutation underpayment to recent retirees from the Service between 1998-2015.

She left him rather a huge basketful of failures.

Recently thousands of newly retired Firefighters between the years 1998-2006 will be compensated after a successful legal challenge found that they did not receive the lump sum commutation in their pension that they were entitled to.

An unnecessary complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman that the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) failed to review the commutation factors within the 1992 Firefighters Pension Scheme from 1998 – 2006, was upheld.

Go Here.

It was unnecessary for the Pensions Ombudsman to deal with this Complaint because the Statutory pension dispute resolution procedure already existed within the DCLG Fire Pension Team who spent more time, money, and effort stonewalling Mr. John McDonnell MP in frustrating his attempts to get them to deal with it when in fact it is their Statutory duty to do so.

One hopes such malignancy will be swept away by the new Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann CBE.

The only question the Minister will have to address now is how much will the back pay be from his budget head and what will the individual compound interest charges likely to be because the government have enriched themselves by their error?

The figure of 8%+ compound is not unreasonable as the Courts have in the past regularly awarded in such circumstances which is also the Statute Law for overdue debt.

One supposes it will give him practice in paying back monies defrauded from disabled Fire Service Veterans, their Widows, and families when finally he has to grasp the largest nettle he is ever likely to find in his In-Tray from his Fire Pension Team who also kept this hidden from the Department as well.

Another issue which he must address is the failure of this Fire Pension Team to accept and implement their Statutory duty under the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 in respect of the resolution of all Fire pension disputes including those of  individual Fire Service Veterans and where it is unable to resolve an issue to take the dispute to the High Court, at its expense, for final national resolution.

If Mordaunt and her ‘Team’ had done so rather than unnecessarily involving the Pensions Ombudsman which was not his role she may have saved the Department hundreds of thousands of  pounds in back pay and needless High Court costs.

And then there is the small matter of the Fire Control Project which after wasting millions of pounds is still only 26%, or was that 27% , in position with hundreds of millions still to be found as the Treasury ploughs on with its next mighty round of cuts.

Is it little wonder that the DCLG could find no money to fund the recruiting incentive of a decent pension Scheme.

Is that why Mordaunt was ‘promoted’ out of her ‘success’? Perhaps she is better back on an MoD frigate at sea playing at, or with, sailors…

It would be remiss of the Bugler not to mention to the Minister at this point that in all matters pension he is subordinate to the new over arcing  Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann and it would be preferable as a new Minister of State for him to put his Fire Pension Team house in order, before embarrassingly, it is done for him…

Nevertheless the Bugler wishes him well in his new appointment whilst reserving its professional judgement on him for another day ; he may not even last a day.

Contribution to the Fire Service whilst in Ministerial office ~ nil. Contribution to self ~ magnificent.

Bugler had to be reminded who he was…15th July 2014~15th July 2016.

Contribution to the Fire Service whilst in Ministerial office ~ nil. Contribution to self expenses ~ magnificent.

The smug smirk says it all…expenses do not ask…16th July 2016~12 June 2017.

Ecumbent…bored to tears

12th June 2017 to date.