With retirement looming, I wrote to my local MP expressing my concern about the switch from the Retail Price Index (RPI) to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This is a matter of concern for teachers like myself and all public sector workers, whether retired or not. I didn't expect much in the way of a result from writing my letter, but the reply ran into two sides of A4. My MP began by saying that the priority was to reduce the national deficit. Taxpayers' money goes to enhance public sector pensions and "This cannot continue to be justified..." (i.e. we can't afford it). She went on to say:
"...Lord Hutton highlighted the importance of the public sector to the health of our society...Public sector pensions serve as a reward for public service".
I am sure that many public sector workers, already retired, would say that their pension isn't much of a reward for years of dedicated service, but there are serious issues to be dealt with here.
Commenting on the review, Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), and no Bolshevik, said it was more "spin and myths" about public sector pensions.
She added: "It's total rubbish as usual. The average pension paid to a retired teacher is £9,000 a year, and £4,000 for a teaching assistant, which is far from gold-plated luxury as Lord Hutton agreed. All teachers contribute to their pensions and they are all in the same Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS) - there are no "special" pension schemes for those in the top jobs, unlike the private sector, and the scheme's rules prevent anyone benefiting from large salary increases in their final few years."
Quite so, and I'm sure that colleagues in other branches of the public sector would agree that the image portrayed in the media of we over-subsidised public sector workers retiring on a taxpayer funded pot of gold is an outrageous myth. It also fails to take into account the fact that we also are taxpayers. Politicians of all parties should remember that we are voters too...
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The lies (there's no other word for it) peddled by politicians about public sector pensions & gleefully regurgitated by the press, are a disgrace. The average civil service pension is £4800, and that of local authority employees is even worse - less then £4000.
ReplyDeleteThe myth about "free" civil service pensions is even accepted by some civil servants. I'll come back to explain why in another comment.
I believe that bonuses should be subject to a 100% tax imposed not on the employee but the employer. It's a disgrace that bankers are getting around £7000 million in bonuses this year, while public servants' jobs are cut, their pay is frozen, their pension and redundancy entitlements reduced and their conditions of service attacked.
As a contrast, the coalition plans to cut mobility allowances for people in residential accommodation to save £140 million - 2% of what bankers will get in bonuses. As the old song says:
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Ain't it all a bloomin' shame?
The myth of the free civil sevice pensions. When the government decides what the civil sevice pay settlement is going to be, it knocks off a percentage supposedly to fund civil service pensions. This is administratively cheaper and easier than calculating and deducting pension contributions from each individual member of staff. The problem is that no government puts that money aside to pay for future pensions; it just returns it to the general fund and spends it.
ReplyDeleteThat is why people think civil service pensions are free, but they're not. It's just that they are deducted by the employer at an earlier stage in the pay process than most occupational pensions are.