ACFO retires in GMFRS and given his old job back next day!

[eric the red]

thats right folks, ACFO retires, £250,000 pay out with lump sum and he's given his job back the next day on an 11 month contract for £100,000. unbelievable! that is the same ACFO in charge of the 'Performance Review Team', the ones who came snooping round stations looking for firefighters breaking the rest facility rules!  WTF. its no wonder the moral is non existant and goodwill is consigned to the last century!

[pugh]

One rule for them and one rule for the rest of us!  What I don't understand is, why allow someone to retire when it is self-evident that their skills and knowledge are still required.  And if they are no longer required and allowed to retire, why re-employ them?  It appears to be a case of 'snouts in the trough' up there in the upper reaches of the gentlemans luncheon club in GMC.  I don't suppose it is any different in any of the brigades across the country, or is that just me being cynical?
:-(

[Big A]

My brigade has been re-employing fire safety officers for years as non-operational station officers and, more recently, as non-uniformed inspectors. Why should it be any different for a principal officer? And how would you react if your brigade were to suggest that they wouldn't allow you to retire because they considered that you had some particular skill (assuming that you do)?

[johno67]

I have to agree with Big A.

It seems to be a win win situation. The only people I can see losing in this situation are the people in the potential promotion chain underneath the ACFO in question.

Ok he has a large lump sum, which he has no doubt had to work hard to get, but If he had retired he would have taken his lump sum and a big annual pension as well, what 50k per year.

I assume that by re-employing him they won't be paying out that 50k pension, so GMC will effectively have an ACFO working for them for 50K a year? Looks like excellent business sense to me.

If he did retire the Brigade would have to pay the costs of training someone up as a replacement etc.

We're not really advocating people being denied their right to retire if they are still capable of carrying out the role, are we?

Eric, is 'the Red', MUFC related or does it refer to your political persussian? If it is the political side then I can understand what you are getting at from a Socialist viewpoint. If not then is it jealousy, a dislike of the individual concerned or just a general dislike of senior management, that has you so wound up about this?

[Dinnertime Dave]

thats right folks, ACFO retires, £250,000 pay out with lump sum and he's given his job back the next day on an 11 month contract for £100,000.

I understood this arrangement was to be used where a person was in a specialist position and the brigade would find it difficult to replace that person. Now that may or may not be the case here but I do find it difficult to believe that nationally GMC cannot find a qualified person to take the post. Was it advertised first?

Also, a number of persons in my brigade have done a similar thing; they don’t start the following day there has to be 28 days between leaving and being reemployed. However, they have also had a pay rise of 11%.

[kurnal]

I dont mind someone doing well of the system. Best of luck to them. But when its is compared to this:

http://www.fbu.org.uk/newspress/ebulletin/118.php

it makes me angry.

[nearlythere]

thats right folks, ACFO retires, £250,000 pay out with lump sum and he's given his job back the next day on an 11 month contract for £100,000.

I understood this arrangement was to be used where a person was in a specialist position and the brigade would find it difficult to replace that person. Now that may or may not be the case here but I do find it difficult to believe that nationally GMC cannot find a qualified person to take the post. Was it advertised first?

Also, a number of persons in my brigade have done a similar thing; they don’t start the following day there has to be 28 days between leaving and being reemployed. However, they have also had a pay rise of 11%.

It does make good sense to retain that level of experience if required. The commutation and a salary, without the pension, would normally be the terms.  
It does add weight to the theory that when a ff of whatever role reaches the 30 year mark they should be offered their due commutation and voluntarily retained in post with salary for as long as they are competant.

[eric the red]

i'm an mufc supporter, not a socialist. i don't care much for politics and trust me, its not a jealousy issue. when i've finished in this job i will retire with a pension far in excess of the acfo.  my point is that the person who many people hold responsible for the poor state of disrepair that gmc finds itself in is largely down to this person who many think has been ruling the brigade whilst the chief has been otherwise disposed. firefighters in gmc only recently voted for a vote of no confidence in the brigade management team. overtime is now the carrot just before christmas because the manning is simply appalling. one firefighter has just been SACKED for bricking up a fellow colleagues locker for a laugh. and it was a laugh,nothing more underhand or sinister,  the crew manager concerned did not complain at all, the firefighter was sacked! the acfo's post wasn't advertised as far as i know and it was common knowledge that he was retiring in november at the turn of the new year. i just thought that i would share gmc with the rest of the world, let everybody see the template for the future!

[Dinnertime Dave]

It does add weight to the theory that when a ff of whatever role reaches the 30 year mark they should be offered their due commutation and voluntarily retained in post with salary for as long as they are competant.

My brigade is allowing firefighters to return on these terms. We have set a number of posts at each rank/role.

[johno67]

Fair enough eric, the money issue was quite distracting. If it is a competence issue then you are quite right in venting your frustration. The same things are already happening in a lot of other FRS', especially the mets. The discipline cases, especially against firefighters/junior managers seem to have taken on a zero tolerance approach, which I don't think is good for anyone. Unfortunately 'the job' seems to have become 'a job', and maybe (sadly) it's something we are going to have to accept. My advice to anyone would be, don't put yourself in that situation in the first place, what was commonplace yesterday may be unacceptable today.