Section:GDN 1N PaGe:10 Edition Date:190827 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 26/8/2019 16:15 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Tuesday 27 August 2019
(^10) National
Mother of children killed in
arson attack dies of injuries
Government faces fresh
legal claims over public
sector pension changes
Frances Perraudin
The mother of four children who were
killed in a petrol bomb attack on their
home in December 2017 has died from
injuries sustained in the fi re.
Michelle Pearson, 37, was seriously
Owen Bowcott
Legal aff airs correspondent
Mass legal claims on behalf of teachers
and doctors alleging that changes to
their pensions in 2015 were discrimi-
natory are being launched against the
government.
Fresh from victory in a similar
pension case on behalf of judges , the
London law fi rm Leigh Day is prepar-
ing employment tribunal cases for
public sector workers.
The British Medical Association is
also coordinating action with doctors
over similar pension changes, which
they warn will infl ict huge losses on
individuals by the time they retire.
Earlier this summer the supreme
court refused to hear an appeal by the
government against a landmark ruling
that found alterations to the terms of
judges’ and fi refi ghters’ pensions were
discriminatory.
About 250 judges whose pension
entitlements were cut won their
discrimination claims against the
Ministry of Justice. The changes intro-
duced a cut-off age preserving better
conditions for those approaching
retirement but transferred younger
judges to a less generous scheme.
That distinction, lawyers argued,
amounted to age discrimination. As
there were more women and people
from BAME backgrounds among the
younger workers, they said it also con-
stituted sex and race discrimination.
The judges’ claims were joined by
similar submissions on behalf of fi re-
fi ghters when the case reached the
court of appeal. The precise terms of
any improved pension scheme have
not yet been agreed.
The supreme court decision eff ec-
tively set a precedent for other public
sector workers. Some estimate that the
government may have to fi nd an addi-
tional £4 b n for improved pensions.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s chair
of council, said earlier this summer:
“Although doctors’ pension schemes
are diff erent, the BMA believes the
underlying legal principles are essen-
tially the same and we want to bring
a challenge on behalf of the UK’s
younger doctors regarding the legal-
ity of the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme. ”
The National Education Union, the
largest representing teachers, is not
backing fresh legal action at this stage.
It is awaiting clarifi cation on what
compensation will be made available
for those in the new pension schemes.
An NEU spokesperson said: “The
government has stated that the posi-
tion established in these cases will be
applied to all public sector schemes.
Compensation will also therefore be
applied to members of the Teachers’
Pension Scheme and Local Govern-
ment Pension Scheme .”
Leigh Day, which specialises in
group actions, believes it may even-
tually lodge claims on behalf of tens
of thousands of teachers, do ctors and
other public sector workers.
Nigel Mackay, a partner at Leigh
Day, said: “The government is short-
changing hundreds of thousands of
hard-working doctors and teachers.
“Public sector pension schemes
have been known to provide bet-
ter than average benefi ts to refl ect
the valuable contribution that those
in the public sector make to society.
However, the changes made by the
government have unfairly left younger
public sector workers out of pocket.”
He said the government had not
made any commitments to remedy the
issue for judges or fi refi ghters who had
not brought claims, or for any other
public sector workers.
The new claims w ould be lodged
with the employment tribunal.
Younger teachers, Mackay said, were
losing out on lump sum payments that
were available under the old scheme.
A government spokesperson said it
had confi rmed its acceptance that the
judgment applied to all main public
service pension schemes in a written
statement to parliament last month.
“This includes the pension schemes
for the NHS and teachers ... We are now
considering how best to implement
the decision.”
In May last year , Zak Bolland and
David Worrall , then 23 and 25, were
given life sentences for the murders of
the four children in the arson attack,
which was part of a feud with the
victims’ older brother, Kyle Pearson ,
then 17, who escaped the fi re. Bolland
was told he must serve a minimum
of 40 years and Worrall 37. Bolland’s
girlfriend, Courtney Brierley, 20, was
found guilty of four counts of man-
slaughter and given a 21-year sentence.
The trial heard that at about 5am on
11 December 2017, the men removed
a fence panel from the garden of the
mid-terrace house, smashed a win-
dow and threw in two lit petrol bombs.
The fi re spread to block the only exit
from the fi rst fl oor to the ground fl oor
as the Pearson family slept upstairs.
Demi , 15, her brother, Brandon,
eight, and sister Lacie, seven, died in
the blaze. Their youngest sister, Lia,
three, died in hospital two days later.
Michelle was put into an induced
coma after suff ering burns to 75% of
her body. In February she was fi lmed in
a wheelchair outside a hospital releas-
ing heart-shaped balloons in a tribute
to her children.
burned in the blaze that killed her four
children, Demi, Brandon, Lacie and
Lia, at their home in Walkden in Sal-
ford, Greater Manchester. Writing on
Facebook yesterday, Pearson’s mother,
Sandra Lever, said: “Sadly last night,
after a hard 20 months of fi ghting our
beautiful Michelle gained her wings
and went to join her babies.”
‘Pension changes
made by the
government have
unfairly left younger
public sector workers
out of pocket’
Nigel Mackay
Partner at Leigh Day
▲ Michelle Pearson, 37, suff ered 75%
burns to her body in the arson attack
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