90% Public Sector Final Salary Pension Meltdown Scandal

Old_Slaphead

chucky wrote: »

why should a public sector worker feel any different?

Your bank pension may have been affordable then - clearly it is not now.

Banks have now curtailed their schemes.


Also, your scheme was subsidised by the shareholders and customers. If they didn't like it they could sell their shares/move business elsewhere - ie they had a choice. Taxpayers don't.

chucky

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

Your bank pension may have been affordable then - clearly it is not now.

Banks have now curtailed their schemes.


Also, your scheme was subsidised by the shareholders and customers. If they didn't like it they could sell their shares/move business elsewhere - ie they had a choice. Taxpayers don't.

to add - they still offer this to existing and new staff.

my ex-colleagues there are still very happy to continue taking advantage of this extremely good staff incentive and won't move due to this pension scheme.

they also don't feel any guilt or responsibility to shareholders of taking advantage of this.

Sir_Humphrey

All this is moot anyway. If house prices stay at the current level, I would not stand a chance of being able to raise a family in London (to a middle class standard of living), even if I became a Grade 7 in the next five years unless I married a rich girl.

In which case I would be heading back up North, which if I want to not spend my working life in abject boredom would mean leaving the Civil Service (most interesting posts are in London). I already know of two new fathers at that pay level who have just or are about to up sticks.

For non-civil servants, Grade 7 is two grades below the senior civil service, roughly £40-45k a year in London. Someone who gets to that level is doing pretty well for themselves in their career, particularly if under the age of 40. This was James Bond's grade in the Fleming novels BTW.

andygb

Well said Chucky. I cannot see how people can criticise other people from a different sector, who have put in decades of service, and paid into a pension scheme, when there are other people such as Fred Goodwin, who have failed in their job miserably, and been responsible for hundreds of thousands of other people's current plight, and who have received a massive pension as part of their contract.
Some then go on to criticise a whole range of people - MPs, doctors, police chiefs etc., as though there is a way of comparing each person, and deciding their worth. Well I for one would consider a doctor to be important, and a police chief, and an MP. Just think what kind of society we would have without these and many other public servants.
I laso happen to think that tendering certain services out to the private sector results in a lowering of standards - school catering, cleaning in the NHS, refuse collection.
We need a pension system which is fair for all, and I do not know how to achieve that. What I do know, is that because of lack of regulation, greed and bad investment (Icleandic banks), the pensions industry as a whole is probably one of the most reviled along with the banks.

chucky

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

All this is moot anyway. If house prices stay at the current level, I would not stand a chance of being able to raise a family in London (to a middle class standard of living), even if I became a Grade 7 in the next five years unless I married a rich girl.

In which case I would be heading back up North, which if I want to not spend my working life in abject boredom would mean leaving the Civil Service (most interesting posts are in London). I already know of two new fathers at that pay level who have just or are about to up sticks.

For non-civil servants, Grade 7 is two grades below the senior civil service, roughly £40-45k a year in London. Someone who gets to that level is doing pretty well for themselves in their career, particularly if under the age of 40. This was James Bond's grade in the Fleming novels BTW.

why not move into the private sector and get a better paid job then.

it's your decision to stay in the public sector no one elses on your 'too low salary'. you then wouldn't have to use this excuse and be able to paint the picture of being that "low paid victimised public sector worker"

just be lucky that you have a job as there over 2.5 million that don't.

JayScottGreenspan

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

Cameron made a t!t of himself when he suggested a money purchase scheme, no-one would work for the government if that happened, (unless there were huge pay rises or they were corrupt and had other ways of topping up their income)

Well, I would expect lots of people to say that, but whether it's true is another matter. I imagine they'd still fill any jobs they needed - especially in the current job market.

Can't see it happening, though. A defined contribution scheme would save the future taxpayer but cost the current taxpayer, which is something govt has never been keen on (edit: and especially not given the current predicament!).

Sir_Humphrey

chucky wrote: »

why not move into the private sector and get a better paid job then.

it's your decision to stay in the public sector no one elses on your 'too low salary'. you then wouldn't have to use this excuse and be able to paint the picture of being that "low paid victimised public sector worker"

just be lucky that you have a job as there over 2.5 million that don't.

It isn't too low now, because I do not have a family.

0/10 for reading comprehension.

chucky

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

It isn't too low now, because I do not have a family.

0/10 for reading comprehension.

11/10 for blaming everyone else for your career decision

try these guys they may listen to your sob stories http://www.pricedout.org.uk/

ruggedtoast

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

Your bank pension may have been affordable then - clearly it is not now.

Banks have now curtailed their schemes.


Also, your scheme was subsidised by the shareholders and customers. If they didn't like it they could sell their shares/move business elsewhere - ie they had a choice. Taxpayers don't.

A pension is a benefit. The same as a company car, health care, gym membership or anything else. Traditionally public sector jobs have paid poorly but had decent holiday and pension benefits which has offset this to some extent.

If you want to recruit decent staff you have to offer something. For various reasons, usually based on the peculiarities of how budgets are arranged, this isnt always just basic salary.

Old_Slaphead

chucky wrote: »

to add - they still offer this to existing and new staff.

Which bank is it?

Is it a final salary scheme with guaranteed benefits?