Firefighters who are disabled in the line of duty will have their pension rights protected under plans outlined yesterday by the Scottish Government.

In another example of the SNP administration choosing a different path from Westminster, Fergus Ewing, the Community Safety Minister, has decided the current system is unfair and announced he wants Scotland to go it alone.

Under changes introduced across the UK in 2006, seriously injured firefighters assessed as fit to carry out desk duties could lose their pension rights if no alternative post can be found for them.

Union officials and other staff organisations have argued the set-up unfairly penalises firefighters who, through no fault of their own, are no longer able to carry out frontline duties.

Mr Ewing said: "The people of Scotland are well aware of the debt we owe to our fire and rescue professionals and the risks they take to protect our communities. We owe it to them to ensure they are treated fairly."

The issue is also being considered in England and Wales but Mr Ewing said measures proposed south of the border do not go far enough.

"I did not consider that the arrangements proposed in England to resolve the situation offered a fair, workable or timely way of resolving this issue," he said. "I have therefore instructed officials to revise current guidance in Scotland to resolve the situation for our fire and rescue staff here."

The government's move was welcomed last night by the Fire Brigades Union, which called on Whitehall to follow suit. Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: "It is morally wrong to expect firefighters to work in hazardous areas and face being sacked rather than getting a pension if they are injured."

The news came as it was revealed the number of attacks on Scottish firefighters fell slightly last year.

Assaults north of the border dropped from 324 to 316 between May 2006 and June 2007, in stark contrast to England and Wales, where they rose by 15% during that period. Fire crews across the UK reported being pelted with bricks, bottles and stones as well as being attacked with knives and hammers as they tackled blazes.

Firefighters in Strathclyde suffered by far the highest level of violence, with 171 attacks on them in 2006-07. They endured 110 attacks with missiles thrown and 32 cases of verbal abuse, according to the report Easy Targets? carried out for the FBU.

The second most violent area was Lothian and Borders, where crews were attacked 71times. In Fife there were 36 assaults, Central Scotland saw 14 and 10 in Tayside.