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10 November 2021
Issue: 7956 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Discrimination
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Pensions discrimination

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) could take legal action against the government over changes to its pension scheme, which it says will make firefighters pay the cost of age discrimination introduced by the government into the scheme

It issued a formal letter before claim last week for judicial review proceedings. The government has until 19 November to respond.

The Court of Appeal cases, Ministry of Justice v McCloud and Home Secretary v Sargeant [2018] EWCA Civ 2844 found the government’s public sector pension reforms discriminated against judges and firefighters based on their ages.

Younger firefighters were required to leave the scheme and join a new 2015 scheme. FBU national officer Mark Rowe said the government was ‘trying to make firefighters pay for their own discrimination… via a scheme in their pensions called “cost control”’.

Issue: 7956 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Discrimination
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

Switalskis—Grimsby

Switalskis—Grimsby

Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

NEWS
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Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
Recent allegations surrounding Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have reignited scrutiny of the ancient common law offence of misconduct in public office. Writing in NLJ this week, Simon Parsons, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, asks whether their conduct could clear a notoriously high legal hurdle
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A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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