FIREFIGHTERS’ leaders are preparing legal action to force the government to comply with a court ruling against pension fund changes.

The Court of Appeal ruled in a test case involving the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) that pensions reforms introduced in 2015 were “unlawful” because they left some firefighters worse off in retirement than others.

Workers are now entitled to be treated as if they had remained in the previous, superior pension scheme and the changes were supposed to have been reversed by March 31 this year.

However, although the firefighters’ employers, represented collectively by the Local Government Association (LGA), want to undo the reforms, they say that government legislation prevents them from doing so.

The government plans to alter the legislation, but not until October next year, so the LGA and the FBU have written a joint letter to the government calling for this to be brought forward.

The FBU said the delay “means that affected members who have or who are taking pension benefits are at a detriment now, in contradiction to the courts’ ruling.”

National officer Mark Rowe said: “The Fire Brigades Union continues to fight for pension justice for all our members. 

“We do not accept Treasury and Home Office delays in abiding by the decision of the court.

“We continue to meet regularly with the LGA and our respective legal teams to resolve this matter as quickly as possible for our members. 

“There must be no further delays. The FBU legal team are drafting the very significant next round of legal claims, which will be registered in the court shortly.”

The Home Office was invited to comment.