THE ongoing firefighters’ pension dispute will be discussed by the Fire Brigades’ Union at a national conference this week.

Over the past year members of the union have taken part in national strike action on several occasions in protest at plans to increase their pension contributions and put up the retirement age from 55 to 60.

Delegates from regional bodies will be present at the meeting and more strikes are expected to be scheduled.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “Firefighters in England will strike for a 24-hour period in the coming weeks. We will finalise details soon.

“Firefighters are outraged at the behaviour of the Westminster fire minister Penny Mordaunt and her boss Eric Pickles, who misled Parliament by falsely claiming that they had introduced a statutory guarantee that a firefighter failing a fitness test through no fault of their own would receive a full and unreduced pension. It is now clear that no fire service employer agrees that any such guarantee exists.

“It is outrageous that the only way the Government could win a vote on this is by blatantly misleading MPs.”