In this section
Current position
Post retirement claims
These are a small group of about 60 teacher claimants who, having retired early on pension, returned to teaching but were not permitted to rejoin the pension scheme. A Case Management Discussion is to be held on the 26th July 2006 with a view to holding a test case hearing. The Claimants subsequently appealed successfully to the Employment Appeal Tribunal but the Secretary of State has now been granted permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal. These cases therefore remain stayed until the appeal process has been completed. The EAT reasons are available here.
Remaining cases
As at the end of 2008, apart from the retained firefighters' cases (see below) only about 1200 claims remain to be disposed of (although a relatively small number of new cases are received each year). Over 400 of these cases are claims against Littlewoods plc which are to be the subject of further hearings during the first few months of 2009.
Retained Firefighters
Within the main part–time worker litigation is a large group of claims brought by retained firefighers. The great majority of these were presented in 1994/1995, with a small additional number being presented in late 1999 or early 2000. These claims were originally stayed along with the main batch of Preston cases while the test cases were heard. In 2000/2001, following the introduction of the Part–time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, a fresh batch of claims were brought on behalf of retained firefighters alleging breaches of the Regulations in respect of various employment issues, including the exclusion of retained firefighters from the pension scheme. These cases were heard by Employment Judge Milton in Croydon who, after an appeal to the House of Lords, eventually found in favour of the retained firefighters. The 2000/2001 claims are known as the "Matthews" claims after the lead Claimant. The Government and the Fire Brigades Union on behalf of all retained firefighters are still negotiating a settlement of the Matthews claims, which include both pension and non–pension aspects. Although these negotiations do not directly affect the 1994/1995 claims, the Retained Firefighters Union, which acts on behalf of the 1994/1995 Claimants, wishes to consider its position once the Matthews claims are settled. All parties to the 1994/1995 claims are therefore agreed that they should remain stayed until the Matthews claims are resolved. The Order by the employment tribunal to this effect on 19 December 2008 can be found here.
