MSE News: Public sector pension benefits should be cut – report

ds9074

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

My DH is a site agent at a lower school and his wage is less than £14,500 pa he pays a big pension contribution in comparison to his wage. How is he supposed to pay anymore in when he is on a breadline wage as it is. :mad:

From what I have read the average increase in contribution will be 3% but this is the average - I had heard there is discussion about exempting those in the lowest contribution band from the increase. In NHS terms this would be people on less than about 20k. Not sure how that would apply in other public sector pensions and it of course could mean a greater than 3% increase for those in higher bands.

CLAPTON

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

My DH is a site agent at a lower school and his wage is less than £14,500 pa he pays a big pension contribution in comparison to his wage. How is he supposed to pay anymore in when he is on a breadline wage as it is. :mad:

well how much exactly does he pay?
and what will be get out when he retires?
he has the option of not paying or paying into a private sector scheme although he would receive about a 1/5 of the retirement pension if he did.

Always_Harassed

I have paid into a public sector pension for the last 28yrs and got a quote recently that I would get £7,000 per annum. I know some of the high earners do well but most of us on average salaries need the state pension as well to be able to live. I am not a low earner but around the national average wage.

Also people forget that when the stock market was high many employers took holidays from paying into the pension funds and some also took the surplus from it.

butterfly72

Always_Harassed wrote: »

I have paid into a public sector pension for the last 28yrs and got a quote recently that I would get £7,000 per annum. .

Hardly gold plated is it?!

bilbo51

butterfly72 wrote: »

Hardly gold plated is it?!

That depends on how much has been paid in.

c_smith

In these times of austerity, doesn't charity begin at home? So I've got a simple suggestion that will solve the alleged pensions crisis overnight:

1. Stop all foreign aid - this should save at least £8 billion a year.
2. Pull out of the EU and save another £13.5 billion a year.

The Government are heading for a revolution if they don't tread carefully.

real1314

bilbo51 wrote: »

That depends on how much has been paid in.

The deal for any employee is a balance of terms and conditions. How much each component is has less importance than the total package. A private sector employer might include healthcare, public sector doesn't. Public sector sometimes had (None do any more for new employees) a low pension contribution rate, some private secor emplyees also get the same; banks often had low/no contribution rates (none of these do any more afaik).

The poster has completed 28 years service, for which they are being told they will get £7k a year. On the basis of a complete package, what do you think?

real1314

c_smith wrote: »

In these times of austerity, doesn't charity begin at home? So I've got a simple suggestion that will solve the alleged pensions crisis overnight:

1. Stop all foreign aid - this should save at least £8 billion a year.
2. Pull out of the EU and save another £13.5 billion a year.

The Government are heading for a revolution if they don't tread carefully.

They might save the £13.5bn contributions, but I think the EU would stop any spending on the UK. It would also create trade difficulties and issues with travel, immi/emigration and would leave the UK marginalised in world political decisions.

chris_m

Always_Harassed wrote: »

Also people forget that when the stock market was high many employers took holidays from paying into the pension funds

IIRC that wasn't so much choice as a legal requirement - I don't think companies are allowed to run a big surplus in their pension schemes otherwise it could effectively become a tax avoidance scheme that happens to pay pensions out as well.

Old_Slaphead

butterfly72 wrote: »

Hardly gold plated is it?!

The 'gold-plated' refers to the terms of the scheme and not the amount paid out.

The taxpayer funds approx. 80% of the cost of public schemes so yes, it is 'gold plated'