Civil service pensions review

evergreen

I thought there was meant to be a report this month on the changes to Civil service pensions. Has anything been released about it yet? If not does anyone know when we might hear?

annie_tanks

Yes the report will hopefully say no indexed linking with payable pensions equivalent to what was paid in..this will save the country zillions and parity between private and public pensions will reign...and dont get me started on low wages..

B.E.N

annie_tanks wrote: »

Yes the report will hopefully say no indexed linking with payable pensions equivalent to what was paid in..this will save the country zillions and parity between private and public pensions will reign...and dont get me started on low wages..

Wow - someone got out of the bed the wrong way this morning!

Wishing 'equality' for the sake of equality - my pension's lost all of it's value, so you should live out retirement in poverty as well, just smacks of a Childish attitude (I lost my toy and thus I should destroy your toy so that you don't have one either).

If there is an issue on sustainability, I'm sure this will be addressed, however, I hope that the coalition Government decide NOT to make the changes to accurred entitlements retrospectively.

Liquorice_Twirls

Think you might be referring to the Hutton report on public sector pensions which is due to be published early in October.

There is some speculation that Hutton will call for increased employee contributions in order to meet increasing costs due to pensioner longevity and lower investment returns.

annie_tanks

BEN..you talk a load of rubbish..why should I/we pay for public pensions,when they have hardly put in enough to buy an annuity to keep a hamster alive.I deeply resent having to buy an un-indexed linked annuity for a decent pension when public pensions are funded from an empty pot.I dont call that sustainable.Well dont complain when your council cuts back the services just to pay for these public pensions..

CLAPTON

annie_tanks wrote: »

BEN..you talk a load of rubbish..why should I/we pay for public pensions,when they have hardly put in enough to buy an annuity to keep a hamster alive.I deeply resent having to buy an un-indexed linked annuity for a decent pension when public pensions are funded from an empty pot.I dont call that sustainable.Well dont complain when your council cuts back the services just to pay for these public pensions..

it does seem strange that although it was the highly paid directors tht shut down the private sector final salary schemes they seem to excaped all the blame

well not that strange really as the press provide a constant stream of stories about the public sector pensions and no comment on the said directors

dizzybuff

As a public sector employee , the pension was not my reason for joining . The job however was . It is one of the little incentives we get . I can assure you my pension will not be gold plated . I will get a lump sum that is part of my pension that i have contributed to . The public sector are my employee so I think itg is only fair that I get an employee contribution. I wont retire at 55 I will have to retire at 65 . I have to , thats in my contract . Thats still 30 years away , so hopefully I will still be working for the public sector then . In the 10 years I have worked I have not had one days sick . I work for you . You might not like what i do but i still work to make your life better.

B.E.N

CLAPTON wrote: »

it does seem strange that although it was the highly paid directors tht shut down the private sector final salary schemes they seem to excaped all the blame

well not that strange really as the press provide a constant stream of stories about the public sector pensions and no comment on the said directors

Indeed.

I also take issue with the fact that public sector pensions, like the State Pension, in fact, are unfunded. I don't like this model as it is just delaying debt for future generations and I think this is unfair.

What I have issue with is the fact that alot of people, egged on perhaps, by what they read in the Daily Mail, actually WANT to deprive people of pensions that they have contributed to and built up over several years..

How would you feel if you had worked somewhere for 20 years, been offered a good pension, thought ahead and planned for your retirement with the calculations in mind, then retire only to find out your pension has been cut by 2/3rds because someone suddenly has 'decided' that the pension you have been contributing to is 'too generous'?

Exactly. If the system is, indeed, to generous, then by all means change it. But, it is imperative that these changes do not apply retrospectively.

molerat

The current pension system must change as the employee contribution is nowhere near sufficient to make the current system viable or in fact fair to the taxpayer who has to fund the shortfall. I do not believe that there will be any retrospective change to those pensions as it would be grossly unfair and I daresay illegal. The system will eventually change to a properly funded one but it will be later rather than sooner, the stopgap measure being to increase employee contributions to ease the strain.

AnonymousForObviousReason

annie_tanks wrote: »

BEN..you talk a load of rubbish..why should I/we pay for public pensions,when they have hardly put in enough to buy an annuity to keep a hamster alive.I deeply resent having to buy an un-indexed linked annuity for a decent pension when public pensions are funded from an empty pot.I dont call that sustainable.Well dont complain when your council cuts back the services just to pay for these public pensions..

Well don't complain when you find that no one wants to teach your kids, fix your broken bones, police your street, put out the fires or fight your wars. AND your council cuts back the services to pay higher wages and starts providing bonuses to make up for the drop in pensions.

Public sector generally pays worse but offers more stability in jobs, longer holidays and better pensions. I notice jealousy only reared it's green head when the economy took a downturn, when the economy was good there was no complaints about how much nurses and the like earned after 40 years working.

Lyncroft

We had a all staff meeting at our dept. The HR director said the Hutton report was out soon. She didn't know what was in it but thought it "wouldn't be what we want to hear". No surprises there really. I agree it will probably be increased contributions or maybe worked out on average wage (bit like what they're intending at the BBC). It's strange really. I joined the Civil Service in 1988. In those days jobs were hard to come by but you could still get jobs in the Civil Service and you were viewed as a little desperate to join it. However, the pension offset that.