Cornwall firefighters who served 2000-2006 urged to check pension

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is trying to reach people who handed their kit back years ago, and the reason is a pension.

Anyone who served as an on-call, or retained, firefighter during one particular six-year stretch in the early 2000s may be able to buy back pension service. The awkward part is that the people it applies to are, by definition, no longer at the station to hear about it.

The six years that matter

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is asking former on-call (retained) firefighters who served on any date between 7 April 2000 and 5 April 2006 to get in touch.

Any date inside that window counts. A contract that began before 7 April 2000, or one that carried on after 5 April 2006, does not rule anyone out. What matters is whether some part of the service falls between those two dates.

The appeal is also aimed at people who never wore the kit themselves. Cornwall’s fire service has asked anyone who knows a former retained firefighter from that period to pass the message on.

What the Matthews Second Options Exercise offers

The route being pointed to is the Matthews Second Options Exercise. Former on-call firefighters found to be eligible may be able to buy back pension service, which is why the service wants to hear from anyone who might fall inside the dates.

Eligibility is not something to guess at from memory. There is an online checker, and a dedicated inbox at the fire service for anyone who thinks they, or someone they know, might qualify.

Why it is being raised now

The Fire Brigades Union has been raising awareness of the issue, and it has had national coverage. BBC Radio 4’s Money Box has covered pensions and on-call firefighters, and BBC News has reported the union’s claim that thousands of retained firefighters are owed pension payments.

Cornwall’s appeal sits underneath that national picture. Rather than waiting for former firefighters to come across the story themselves, the service is asking crews, families and neighbours to do the finding.

How to check, and who to contact

There are two steps. Former on-call firefighters can check whether they may be eligible online, then contact the fire service’s pensions team at [email protected].

Someone who spent a few years on call two decades ago, then moved on to a completely different job, is unlikely to be watching the fire service’s page for pension news. Which is rather the point of asking everyone else to look.

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