HEAVILY armed police officers guarding Scotland’s nuclear plants have accused the UK Government of jeopardising national security by expecting them to work until their late 60s.
The body representing the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), which has several hundred Scots-based officers at Hunterston, Torness and Dounreay Nuclear Facilities, said its members would lack the fitness and weaponry skills to carry out their duties while continuing to work as pensioners.
It warned officers could not fully protect the public from terrorism if they worked beyond 60.
Unlike other forces, CNC officers will soon be required to continue working until the age of 67 or 68. Regular working days require them to be routinely armed with three weapons over 12-hour shifts.
The Civil Nuclear Police Federation (CNPF) lost a High Court case last August to allow its officers to retire at the same age as colleagues in regular forces but has now written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asking her to join their campaign.
In its letter, the Federation said: “It is surely inconceivable that the public and other representative bodies will have confidence that the civil nuclear facilities and the transportation of nuclear material can be safely protected by aggressively armed officers in their mid to late sixties.
“What makes the proposed retirement age so unrealistic is that it takes no account of the following facts: the CNC’s vast majority 1250 operational officers...work four day 12 hour shifts, are routinely armed with three weapon systems and carry 30kilos of protective gear and respiratory equipment.
“It is a medical fact that officer’s health and dexterity will decline from their late 50s. Few male officers and certainly no female officers will still pass the test at 60 plus. This clearly raises an equality issue which is also being ignored.”
The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 created an exemption for those working for a “police force” but the judge in last summer’s case said, in legal terms, the CNC officers were not “members of a police force” and there were “distinct and distinguishing differences” to other forces.
It was reported in recent months that there have been 130 security breaches over the past five years, including a missing gun, at the UK’s nuclear sites, two which were classed as high risk and two as medium risk.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The pensions arrangements of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority are reserved to the UK Government. We will consider Mr Dennis’ letter when it is received and will reply in due course.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The Government is committed to maintaining British national security and the protection of its nuclear power sites and supporting those who perform this role.
“We noted the judgement of the court and continue to work with the Civil Nuclear Police Authority to put in place the required pension arrangements, within the parameters set out in legislation.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel