wednesday1 Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Work hard all your life, build up a decent pension and retire comfortably? Not if you work in the public services Smarmy Dave wants to privatise in his 'Big Society' plans: Public sector pensions could be halvedBy Gerri Peev 25 February 2011 Reader comments (143) Public sector workers could see their 'gold-plated' pensions slashed to make it easier to transfer services to private firms and charities. Reaction: Unions called the proposal 'extremely provocative' and said it could lead to strikes. Payments due to hundreds of thousands of nurses, doctors and bin collectors could be cut to less than half under proposals being considered by the Treasury. The Government wants providers other than the state to take over the running of some services as part of David Cameron's 'Big Society' plan. But ministers fear the generous final salary schemes paid out to public sector workers would deter all but the biggest firms from doing so. Last night unions said the proposal was 'extremely provocative' and could lead to a fresh round of strikes if enacted. Public sector workers have their pensions protected, even if another provider takes over the service, under 'fair deal' rules agreed by Labour in the late 1990s. But Government sources said these were merely guidelines, and it would not require legislation to tear them up. The plans would allow a new employer to transfer public sector staff to a less generous contributory scheme where they pay into a pot with no final guarantees. The proposal - suggested by former Labour work and pensions secretary Lord Hutton - is contained in a consultation document to be published by George Osborne next month. The change would mean a nurse with a final salary of £40,000 could see their pension slashed from £20,000 a year after 30 years' service to £6,000. Teachers retiring on a final salary of £50,000, who would normally receive a pension of £25,000, would see this whittled down to little more than £7,000. Doctors can qualify for pensions of around £50,000. But transferring into a new private pension scheme could leave them with just £11,403 a year in retirement. Those on the lowest salaries, such as refuse collectors, could see their £10,000 pensions cut to £3,249. Critics have pointed out that the changes could still cost the state, because many public sector workers would have to rely on benefit payments to top up their pensions. Unions are already threatening to strike over plans to make members contribute more towards pensions. Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said yesterday: 'Scrapping these protections would be extremely provocative and would cause a crisis of confidence among public sector workers who are already feeling the pain of the Government's cuts. 'The fact that some companies are unwilling to pay decent pensions is proof they have no right to take over public services.' A spokesman for the Public and Commercial Services Union said: 'The average pension for our members is already low, at just over £4,000 a year. We would be very concerned by anything that puts at risk even this meagre reward for their loyal service.' A Treasury spokesman said the reform was one of several options which would be put out to consultation for at least three months before any decisions are reached. Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/pensions/article.html?in_article_id=523755&in_page_id=6#ixzz1FYGqRdwW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadOnDole Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 They can't have it all, civil servants Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj.scuba Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I cannot see any reason why public sector pensions, with contributions paid out of the public purse, should be more favourable than for private sector workers. I think public sector pensions should be about the same as private sector pensions for the same salaries, ie roughly equal. That way nobody can lay claim to being unfairly treated. The government should put forward two options; either privatise the pensions, or keep it public but make them of the same worth as their private sector equivelants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthenekred Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 They can't have it all, civil servants All? You have it all and you sit on yer arse all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Work hard all your life, build up a decent pension and retire comfortably? At the expense of the next generation and making the country bankrupt Fixed it for you, the end of your paragraph was missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 After Brown's raid on the private pensions a lot of us private sector pension holders were screwed as well...didn't see you up in arms about that.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eckerslike Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Do you remember this? http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/pensions/article.html?in_article_id=413695&in_page_id=6 Gordon Brown's ruthless raid on pension schemes has cost the country's savers at least £100bn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swan_Vesta Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Thing is, these pensions are hardly gold plated for the majority of the public servants. These people with 'gold plated' pensions are teachers, fire fighters, prison officers, some council workers and some civil servants. I've seen Hutton's interim report and these people are hardly going to be lighting Cuban cigars with £50 notes as they'd like you to think. Yet again, the spin, is what folk choose to believe and in doing so fall into the trap that Cameron et al are springing which is to blame the public services for the folly of the banking sector and private sector debt. In the words of Public Enemy; "Don't believe the hype". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I think the 'gold plating' refers to the lack of contribution they're required to make and the amount they get out of it. If they made a similar contribution to a private pension they'd probably be living on the bread line. Ultimately the country can't afford to keep subsidising pensions in this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sibon Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Thing is, these pensions are hardly gold plated for the majority of the public servants. These people with 'gold plated' pensions are teachers, fire fighters, prison officers, some council workers and some civil servants. I've seen Hutton's interim report and these people are hardly going to be lighting Cuban cigars with £50 notes as they'd like you to think. Yet again, the spin, is what folk choose to believe and in doing so fall into the trap that Cameron et al are springing which is to blame the public services for the folly of the banking sector and private sector debt. In the words of Public Enemy; "Don't believe the hype". Indeed not. My gold plated public sector pension stands at about £5K pa at present. That is admittedly an actuarially reduced figure based on me retiring at 55 and making 30 years of contributions. It will be interesting to see whether they can pull this one off. Setting aside all the obvious civil unrest that it would generate, I'm not sure that it would be to the Government's advantage to tip a generation of pensioners into poverty. In any case, they need the current contributions, to pay the current pensions, so they can't simply privatise it overnight. My money is on a slow degradation of the terms and conditions. The current pensions are perfectly affordable. The system isn't sustainable though. For those of you who like your information proper, click here . Warning: Contains numbers and a healthy dose of common sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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