Is it time to tackle the public sector pensions time bomb?

[crookesey]

But what happens when there isn't enough in those funds to meet liabilities?

 

Then all public sector retirees will be shot.

[Wildcat]

There is no evidence for that. Lord Hutton says so.

 

I've emailed him my salary and those of several of my contemporaries from University with similar qualifications. Suffice to say that there isn't a 10% difference.

 

Incomes Data Systems did an analysis last year that showed there was. maybe different areas of the public sector are affected differently?

 

This from the IDS study on Civil Service Pay:

 

Admin officers are paid 21% less than people doing comparable jobs in the private sector, and executive officers are paid 18% less

[Guest sibon]

Incomes Data Systems did an analysis last year that showed there was. maybe different areas of the public sector are affected differently?

 

This from the IDS study on Civil Service Pay:

 

I was being somewhat sarcastic. Most of the people that I'm still in touch with from my University days earn considerably more than I do. They are similarly qualified to me. My salary is half of many of them. Mind you they went into Accounting, Financial Services and Engineering of one kind or another.

 

I'm the one that enjoys his job though:)

[Sausage Dog]

Where do you get the 6% from - I was paying more than that 30 years ago in the NHS.

 

Crooksey has no idea what he/she is talking about.

 

I have to pay almost 7%. I earn around £35,000 a year, which I appreciate is a decent amount compared to many, but this means that £200 (a tenth of my take home pay) is deducted automatically. This adds up to £2,400 a year I'm paying in. So it's hardly a case something for nothing.

[milquetoast1]

Incomes Data Systems did an analysis last year that showed there was. maybe different areas of the public sector are affected differently?

 

This from the IDS study on Civil Service Pay:

 

Admin officers are paid 21% less than people doing comparable jobs in the private sector, and executive officers are paid 18% less

 

I've tried to find some information on the IDS, but all I get is a link to a Unison document and Sheffield Forum.

 

Could you tell me approximately what an admin officer is paid, and what a comparable job in the private sector is? I'll then tell you what I think they will be paid in our company specifically, or in the private sector in general.

[emma royd]

Or, we could employ more public sector workers. That means more pension contributions. Which fills the pot back up.

 

We could emply 25% more if we paid them 25% less just as long as they accepted that their pensions in turn needed to be affordable.

[emma royd]

I've tried to find some information on the IDS, but all I get is a link to a Unison document and Sheffield Forum.

 

Could you tell me approximately what an admin officer is paid, and what a comparable job in the private sector is? I'll then tell you what I think they will be paid in our company specifically, or in the private sector in general.

 

And perhaps what the retirement age is as well.

[Sheff Bird]

I work in the public sector and get annoyed with phrases like "gold-plated pensions". This might be true for the senior civil service which make up a small percentage of the civil service - most of whom are admin staff.

 

When you've worked in the public sector for most of your working life and paid into a pension scheme the whole time, it seems unfair to me to change the goalposts just as you're nearing retirement.

[emma royd]

 

When you've worked in the public sector for most of your working life and paid into a pension scheme the whole time, it seems unfair to me to change the goalposts just as you're nearing retirement.

 

I think you will find that's exactly what happened to most people with final salary pensions in the real world.. sorry I meant private sector and they don't have the ability to retire at 60 either.

[CarolW]

I think you will find that's exactly what happened to most people with final salary pensions in the real world.. sorry I meant private sector and they don't have the ability to retire at 60 either.

 

I work for the NHS - to qualify for the full pension, I have to work for 40 years (another 16 to go!!!) which will take me over the current retirement age for women of 60.

 

If I decide to retire earlier - I think I would have to be 55 years old minimum - the pension would be reduced as it's worked out on the number of years worked, as well as the average of my final 3 years salary.

 

Those starting in the NHS after 2008 will be on a different pension scheme, the details of which I'm not sure, but I will be given the option to transfer into this scheme if I want to....

 

I get the details next year..........