The London Fire Brigade has rehired senior staff after their retirement in a move slammed by unions as an “outrageous” tax-saving measure.
The research, conducted by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), showed that five senior staff retired and then were brought back into the service since 2010.
The move is controversial because it can allow senior employees to draw up to a quarter of their pension pot as a tax-free lump sum and cease to pay employee pension contributions while in post - saving tax.
The fire service also ceases to pay pension contributions, also saving tax.
Ministers in 2017 called for the practice to stop as it puts “additional strain on the taxpayer”, “looks wrong,” and “erodes public confidence”.
However, Home Office rules also state that it could be justified in “exceptional circumstances when such a decision is necessary in the interests of public safety”.
According to Freedom of Information data obtained by the union, thirteen fire and rescue services across the country have engaged in the practice.
This includes the London Fire Brigade, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Yorkshire among others.
Matt Wrack, the Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said it was “outrageous” and that fire and rescue service leaders were being allowed to “rob taxpayers”.
“It’s deeply unfair and unjust, that bosses on six figure salaries are making cosy agreements that the firefighters they preside over could never hope for,” he said.
“FBU members will be furious that this is continuing despite the government formally saying it shouldn’t.
“FBU members have suffered pay restraint for over a decade, with chief officers standing idly by and doing nothing to demand better for their employees.
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“That bosses have been able to play the system to make themselves even richer when ordinary workers are struggling to make ends meet is truly abhorrent.”
A spokesperson for the Brigade said the re-engagement of senior officers only happens in “exceptional circumstances” where expertise is needed.
“For example, to provide continuity for significant matters such as the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, or where national skills shortages leave us with little alternative, such as Fire Safety,” she said.
“Where senior officers are reemployed, we will always follow due process which ensures that we comply with the Home Office National Framework and that our appointments are scrutinised by the Deputy Mayor.”
