Submitted by SWFBU on
CIRCULAR 2011HOC0216MW
18 May 2011
TO: ALL MEMBERS
Dear Brother/Sister
YOUGOV ONLINE SURVEY – FBU MEMBERS’ ATTITUDE TO PENSION CHANGES
What is the purpose of this survey?
You will be aware of the Government’s proposed changes to the firefighters’ pension schemes which will mean many FBU members will have to ‘Work longer, Pay more and Get less’.
The FBU is totally committed to maintaining quality pension schemes for all its members and has been firm in its opposition to many of the suggestions in the recent Hutton report and the Government’s proposal to increase employee contributions by around 3% starting in April 2012.
If the FBU is to be successful in any campaign against this new wave of attacks on pensions you have got a big part to play.
In order to get a clear understanding of the strength feeling of the membership on all the key Government proposals, we have commissioned the independent polling organisation YouGov to survey members about these changes.
This survey will allow you to express your views on what your pension scheme means to you and how you may react to the proposed changes. It’s simple to access the online survey and it will only take a few minutes of your time to complete.
How do I take part?
It’s easy!
You can type in this URL address www.yougov.co.uk/fbu-pensionssurvey or go onto the FBU website www.fbu.org.uk where you will be directed to it from the homepage.
It takes a couple of minutes, the questions are straight forward and are designed around your particular pension scheme whether you are in the 1992 Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (FPS), the 2006 New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (NFPS) or the Local Government Pension Scheme.
It is very important that you take part and that you give your considered responses to the survey.
Why use YouGov?
YouGov is a respected independent polling organisation and the information we obtain from this survey can be used to highlight our member’s attitudes without giving anyone the opportunity to say it is biased or distorted.
Please only fill in the survey once and do not use the same computer as any colleagues as the survey is designed to highlight repeat responses from one source. (i.e. try to avoid using any work computers)
The survey will be live from midday Thursday 19th May 2011 until Friday 17th June 2011 and you will get several reminders to take part. All FBU officials will be encouraged to maximise membership participation in this survey and delegates to FBU Annual Conference will get a briefing on its importance.
Why should I bother?
Your views are extremely important to us and if we are to conduct a successful campaign against these proposed changes we need to understand the strength of feeling of all members and use any information we gather to formulate a strategy.
There may be a particular proposal that you are strongly opposed to and this may even mean you have to consider your continued membership of your current scheme. If this is so we need to know.
What happens with the information?
Part of the work YouGov are undertaking is to gather the information and produce a report on FBU members’ attitudes towards the proposals for future pension changes. This report will be an extremely valuable tool that we can use to defend the future pension provisions of its members.
This is only one step in any campaign but it is a vital step and one that you need to take part in – please take part and make your views heard.
Please take a few minutes of your time complete this survey – this is a chance to highlight your feelings towards the Government’s future plans for your pension scheme.
Best wishes.
Yours fraternally
MATT WRACK
GENERAL SECRETARY
