The Fire Brigades Union is proud to be able to offer its members the best possible legal protection in their work and lives through its unique partnership with Thompsons – the UK’s largest and longest established firm of specialist personal injury and trade union lawyers.
The firm has offices in major cities throughout the UK.
Thompsons is the only law firm to have lawyers in all three UK legal jurisdictions and is committed to offering a national legal service wherever a union’s membership may be in the UK.
FBU Legal Services
FBU members can receive advice, support and representation on the whole range of legal issues that they and their families may encounter in their day-to-day lives. These include personal injury, employment rights (including equal rights, human rights and pensions), criminal law, family law, Wills and conveyancing.
Thompsons regional office structure means that you will be seen as near as possible to your place of work or local union office.
Our commitment is to total access to Thompsons for our members. Technology is key to this and Thompsons has developed information technology systems that enable FBU members to quickly and easily obtain any information relating to their case.
You can also visit the FBU website and the Thompsons’ website which includes fact sheets from the free legal advice department. There are links to the site from FBU websites.
Using e-mail the FBU telephone access service has been made more efficient and enables swift reporting to Thompsons of requests for legal advice.
A Total Package Of Benefits
The legal services provided to FBU members include:
- Work-related accidents and diseases
- Non work-related accidents and diseases
- Employment disputes
- Family law
- Benefits and consumer advice
- Criminal law
- Property and conveyancing
- Wills
There are many other legal and non-legal issues that you may need advice and representation on which our legal service can provide.
Where employment disputes arise including discipline cases, allegations of harassment etc, contact your Branch Secretary as direct representation by FBU officials will often be more appropriate in such cases. Your FBU official will notify you if legal advice and representation is required.
Work-Related Accidents and Diseases
FBU members regularly risk injury, their health and even their lives in the course of their duty.
Our free personal injury service means that you will have access to immediate advice and representation in seeking compensation for your injuries or for the suffering caused through a disease contracted through your work. Thompsons is the biggest and most experienced personal injury law firm in the UK and your case will be handled by highly experienced lawyers.
If you are injured at work and fault can be proven you will be entitled to compensation for the pain and suffering caused and for loss of earnings.
Fault can be proven in a number of ways. For example:
- Defective equipment
- Inadequate safety precautions
- Insufficient training or instructions
- Operational command and control failures
- Unsafe working practices
These are only a few examples. There are many others and even if you doubt whether the Brigade or anyone else was at fault you should still contact Legal Aaid Network. By way of illustration:
- Members injured at operational incidents may have a claim against the occupier’s insurers where the cause of fire was the occupier’s negligence.
- In road traffic cases involving the rescue of a member of the public, there may be a claim against the insurers of the driver responsible for the RTA.
- Where injury is sustained at an operational incident, there may be a criminal injuries claim if the cause of fire was arson and the member concerned was taking an exceptional risk at the relevant time.
There are time limits so delays should be avoided.
Where you are unable to return to work, the level of compensation that you will be entitled to will be calculated based upon the salary that you would have been paid until retirement.
The families of FBU members can also use the service to seek compensation where a member is killed in the course of duty.
Non Work-Related Accidents and Diseases
Members who are the victim of an injury or disease outside work can also take advantage of the free legal advice service. A member may be injured whilst playing sport, as a result of a defective product, whilst shopping or on property belonging to someone else.
People who are injured in this way are often unsure about what rights they have to claim compensation, and from whom. Our legal services mean you never need to feel alone in these circumstances Thompsons will be able to advise and represent you.
FBU legal services offers legal cover for members injured travelling to and from work.
FBU members’ dependant children, husbands, wives, partners and parents can also use the free legal service if they suffer a non-work related accident.
As with all personal injury cases, time is of the essence. You should call the advice line as soon as possible after the accident in order to maximise the chances of winning compensation.
Property and Conveyancing
FBU’s legal services do not just cover injury and employment matters.
Thompsons conveyancing and property lawyers are able to provide FBU members a first class service at a highly competitive rate. There is complete financial transparency in that members will be notified in advance of the applicable charge.
Free Wills and Independent Financial Advice
Everyone should make a Will, and the FBU recommends that you take advantage of our free Wills service. If you do not make a Will there is a danger that those people you would have wanted to look after your affairs and to benefit from your estate will not do so.
While no one likes to think about death, making a Will should at least ensure that there are no legal complications for your loved-ones to have to deal with should you die suddenly.
Making a free Will using Thompsons’ specialist service could not be easier. You will be sent a form to fill in which will give Thompsons all the information they need to draw up your Will. A lawyer may need to interview you if your estate or instructions are complex.
Members’ single and joint Wills are free and the service also covers FBU members’ families at the extremely competitive cost of £35.25 for a single Will or £52.88 for a joint Will.
Probate, trust and executry can also be arranged through FBU approved lawyers at advantageous rates.
It may also be possible to arrange independent financial advice for FBU members.
Family Law
The FBU legal helpline gets more calls requesting advice on family law matters than almost any other area of the law.
Personal relationship difficulties can lead to complex legal problems. Separation and divorce can be among the most stressful things to happen in a person’s life, especially where children and property are involved.
While expert legal advice cannot ease the pain of a relationship break-down, it will ensure that the split is as fair to all sides as is possible.
Our helpline gives confidential and sensitive advice on a whole range of issues to do with family law, eg: custody rights, the Child Support Agency, property rights, pension rights, separation and divorce.
Family law advice is free in the first instance. Where ongoing assistance is required Thompsons can refer you to specialist lawyers in the field able to arrange legal representation, prepare pension calculations, negotiate settlement arrangements and provide the full range of family law services.
Criminal Law
Few people anticipate that they will ever be accused of committing a crime, or that a crime they may have committed in the past could jeopardise their employment prospects.
Nevertheless FBU members have experienced being accused of criminal acts and have found themselves in urgent need of expert legal advice.
The FBU’s law firm Thompsons has an expert criminal law unit and access to expert criminal lawyers. The legal advice line is available 24 hours a day for members in urgent need of help.
And if you have been arrested and need representation the service can ensure you have a lawyer on your side as soon as possible.
Legal aid is often available and we can always get a lawyer to a police station if you are arrested, at no cost to you if Legal Aid is available or at Legal Aid rates if it is not.
Benefits and Consumer Law
Losing your job or being unable to work due to injury or illness can mean a sudden drop in income that leaves you and your family in financial difficulties. The FBU’s free legal advice service is on hand to provide advice on claiming benefits – for you and for your family members.
It is also available for advice on consumer law problems, such as holiday nightmares or being conned into buying defective goods.
The Legal Assistance Network
The FBU free legal advice line is run by Thompsons’ fully unionised call centre.
Thompsons established a call centre over five years ago. Now, known as Trade Union Call Handling (TUCH), it handles over 33,000 calls each year giving advice on everything from the consequences of relationship breakdown, neighbour disputes, consumer and family law problems.
TUCH will ask for your FBU membership number when you call in.
The call centre uses the latest information technology to ensure that the calls coming in can be answered quickly and efficiently. The call is initially answered by an operator who can identify what kind of advice is required and pass the member through to an advice worker available to listen and help. All Thompsons advisers have access to both on line advice sources and a full legal library if they need it.
Some problems can’t be answered immediately and if necessary the telephone advisers will carry out research and call people back, at their convenience.
Sometimes a query may be one that regularly gets raised with TUCH and if it is there are a series of fact sheets that are available to send out to members.
Quality Assurance
Thompsons and the FBU have worked together for many years to ensure members receive a first class legal service. That commitment remains paramount and, to that end, we constantly monitor and quality control the service.
Members using the service will be contacted to seek their views on the service. This process allows us to develop and improve the service to meet the needs of members and their families.
Where a member is not satisfied with the service, Liz Wood at TUCH may be contacted on 0808 100 6061.
Beyond that, complaints may be directed to:
Doug Christie at Thompsons Solicitors, Congress House, Great Russell St, London WC1B 3LW.
Useful Leaflets
Our list of leaflets is always being added to but it currently includes:
- Injuries at Work – Claiming Compensation
- Health, Safety and Accidents
- Asbestos Related Diseases – Claiming Compensation
- Spinal Injuries
- Road Traffic Accidents
- Clinical Negligence
- Stress at Work
- Employment Rights – Family Friendly Policies
- Employment Rights – Individual and Trade Union
- Rights
- Gays and Lesbians – Discrimination in Employment
- Pensions – Basics of the Law
- Your Pension Rights – How to Complain
- Discrimination, Equal Pay and Pensions
- Human Rights
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