Public Sector Pensions...

thescouselander

muhasib wrote: »

Don't know when that was, however now the 'core' menu is well over £4 and in reality you will spend more. The move is toward single status (ie all ranks together) dining as well so in some sites there won't be mess dining.

You may as well be talking about a bygone age saying its £2.50 !!

I'll have a look through my receipts to confirm but it cant have been much more than 18 months ago.

Andy_L

muhasib wrote: »

Don't know when that was, however now the 'core' menu is well over £4 and in reality you will spend more. The move is toward single status (ie all ranks together) dining as well so in some sites there won't be mess dining.

You may as well be talking about a bygone age saying its £2.50 !!

The daily charge is £4.13, Casual meal rate is £1.69 for the main meal

tp://www.rafcom.co.uk/pay_allowances/pay/2010/2010_RegularPayRatesandcharges.pdf

worldtraveller

The Prime Minister yesterday confirmed the pensions of existing public sector workers will be cut, as he defended the coalition Budget in a tetchy question and answer session with voters.

Cameron said the bill for public sector pensions was too high and that schemes would become less favourable for existing members of staff as well as new ones.

Answering questions alongside Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Cameron said some public sector fat cats retire on gold-plated pensions worth £70,000 a year, costing taxpayers “a huge amount of money”.

He said the pensions of high-paid civil servants would be reformed first, but warned of changes across the spectrum to bring them in line with “rewards in the private sector, which have gone down dramatically recently”.

“What’s happened in the private sector is many people’s pensions have changed. There are no longer final salary schemes or they’re having to put more money in... it’s those things to make sure they’re affordable,” he added.

Cameron added that accrued rights would be safe, but that public sector workers were likely to contribute more and receive less in the future.

CITY A.M.

dori2o

The thing is, the last government tried this, pushed through unagreed changes, what happened, they lost the battle and the courts overturned their changes.

What makes Cameron think he will be able to do the same thing without it being challenged.

As far as I know, any changes to my contract have to be agreed by my union and the majority of the workforce, otherwise we'll be out on strike again, and back into the courts.

Old_Slaphead

dori2o wrote: »

The thing is, the last government tried this, pushed through unagreed changes, what happened, they lost the battle and the courts overturned their changes.

What makes Cameron think he will be able to do the same thing without it being challenged.

As far as I know, any changes to my contract have to be agreed by my union and the majority of the workforce, otherwise we'll be out on strike again, and back into the courts.

But the last government was run by the Public Sector Party who didn't have the cahunas to take on the unions. However some unions have agreed in principal to future contribution sharing on pension underfunding between employee/employer and there's also some agreement to cap future employer contribs at 20% max

If for any legal reason changes cannot be made then the answer's simple - no pay increases for the forseeable future (ie a minimum 10 year freeze) until overall average salary packages are brought into line with private sector.

Chr15_2

Some very interesting comments that are both, I can only describe as '!!!!!y' but also constructive. I work within the public sector and my family is set to lose out because of these proposals in the long run. In addition I am now worried about losing my job in the impending 'cuts', this will then put further burden on the economy as I will be struggling to gain employment along the other millions. I joined my profession primarily because I wanted to make some kind of difference. However, as everyone else also does, I took into account certain benefits, including the pension. It now looks like this is going to change.

I would like to see the people that are moaning about public sector dealing with the everyday things we have to deal with, things that go unseen and that never come into their lives ( I hope), those things they take for granted

dori2o

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

But the last government was run by the Public Sector Party who didn't have the cahunas to take on the unions. However some unions have agreed in principal to future contribution sharing on pension underfunding between employee/employer and there's also some agreement to cap future employer contribs at 20% max

If for any legal reason changes cannot be made then the answer's simple - no pay increases for the forseeable future (ie a minimum 10 year freeze) until overall average salary packages are brought into line with private sector.

So the vastly low paid majority of the civil service can suffer even more.

I could earn more in other call centres doing such work as debt collection where the basic salary is approx £19k, plus comission and other benefits, yet I choose to stay where I am as I quite like the job I do, but my basic salary is over £7000 less than the average in my area and I don't get such luxuries as comission.

My pension won't be that great either despite the opinion of those on here, but what it does do is make the fact i will have had an underpaid working life that bit more worthwhile.

The country cannot function without the public service,that is something this government needs to realise....fast.

vivatifosi

dori2o wrote: »

I could earn more in other call centres doing such work as debt collection where the basic salary is approx £19k, plus comission and other benefits, yet I choose to stay where I am as I quite like the job I do, but my basic salary is over £7000 less than the average in my area and I don't get such luxuries as comission.

Perhaps the government is reliant on people realising this and getting fed up and leaving because it will save a lot in redundancy costs.

Old_Slaphead

Call centre work is difficult, stressful and usually not 9-5. Most staff don't last too long in the job. In my area call centre ops are paid around £14k with (small) bonus and negligible pension benefits. It certainly isn't a "job for life" like many in the public sector are (well....used to be !)

---

The average pay in the public sector is £25000 - above that for the private sector.
Guaranteed pensions were made available at a time when 'public service' was considered to be low paid - overall that is now no longer the case.
Maybe some provision should be made for those on lower salaries ie sub £20,000 ??? but, for the majority, "gold plated" pensions and early retirement in their current format are simply unaffordable.

No-one's suggesting PS pensions should be stopped - but they should be modified to more accurately reflect current economic and lifestyle issues

Andy_L

worldtraveller wrote: »

Cameron added that accrued rights would be safe,

Except of course for those accrued rights to RPI indexation