Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

LydiaJ

vivatifosi wrote: »

For Lydia. Here's a bit linked to Hansard:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2011-11-21a.81396.h

(you can get to directly via Hansard but this is easier to read)

Thanks viva. I would never have thought of looking there. So it's still all just as much up in the air as it was. Oh well, and there was me thinking we might be arriving at some kind of definitive answer.

Thanks tomterm, but I'm not sure that I'm entirely convinced by the "no new members" thing, given that they are closing the current scheme, and starting a new one, so that teachers will have their accrued rights under the old scheme, but all service from now on will accrue pension under the new scheme. I wouldn't put it past them to make the new scheme be for state school teachers only. I'm hoping not, though. (Am I allowed to say that on here?)

tomterm8

I guess I wouldn't put much past them, which is why I said "at this stage". I think all the details are still very much up in the air.

misskool

LydiaJ wrote: »

Thanks viva. I would never have thought of looking there. So it's still all just as much up in the air as it was. Oh well, and there was me thinking we might be arriving at some kind of definitive answer.

Thanks tomterm, but I'm not sure that I'm entirely convinced by the "no new members" thing, given that they are closing the current scheme, and starting a new one, so that teachers will have their accrued rights under the old scheme, but all service from now on will accrue pension under the new scheme. I wouldn't put it past them to make the new scheme be for state school teachers only. I'm hoping not, though. (Am I allowed to say that on here?)

That's a strange way of doing it though. For USS (which I'm a member of), they just closed the old scheme and let it continue for current members with increased contributions. The new scheme was only for new members.

LydiaJ

misskool wrote: »

That's a strange way of doing it though. For USS (which I'm a member of), they just closed the old scheme and let it continue for current members with increased contributions. The new scheme was only for new members.

That was what they did to our scheme in 2007. Now they want to make more sweeping changes.

PS My dad gets a USS pension.

vivatifosi

misskool wrote: »

That's a strange way of doing it though. For USS (which I'm a member of), they just closed the old scheme and let it continue for current members with increased contributions. The new scheme was only for new members.

LydiaJ wrote: »

That was what they did to our scheme in 2007. Now they want to make more sweeping changes.

Tbh I'm not surprised at the changes because the rate at which employers contributions have increased will make them want to start over with schemes, rather than wait for people to leave. I'd imagine the leaver rates are lower for your schemes as people move from one school or uni to another but stay in the same scheme, which is a big difference from private sector pensions. I'll be amazed if any public sector pension scheme looks the same in five years from now.

This isn't a dig btw, I'm a member of a public sector pension. Inadvertently GO has also set of a chain effect where the changes made to public sector pensions have had a knock-on effect on private sector ones. That is, that CPI will become the measure of inflation for deferred members of private schemes too. So it would be impossible to row back on some changes and then leaving them in effect in the private sector. Its a bit of a c*ck up I think.

misskool

vivatifosi wrote: »

Tbh I'm not surprised at the changes because the rate at which employers contributions have increased will make them want to start over with schemes, rather than wait for people to leave. I'd imagine the leaver rates are lower for your schemes as people move from one school or uni to another but stay in the same scheme, which is a big difference from private sector pensions. I'll be amazed if any public sector pension scheme looks the same in five years from now.

This isn't a dig btw, I'm a member of a public sector pension. Inadvertently GO has also set of a chain effect where the changes made to public sector pensions have had a knock-on effect on private sector ones. That is, that CPI will become the measure of inflation for deferred members of private schemes too. So it would be impossible to row back on some changes and then leaving them in effect in the private sector. Its a bit of a c*ck up I think.

I'm not complaining. Even with my increased contributions, I know I am in a good scheme. I am also behind in my contributions as due to being over-educated , I have spent less time building up a pension pot.

I guess the scheme will continue to be changed over the next few years.

silvercar

Round here the strike seems very unpopular. Without making any political points on the NPT, it seems to me that so many families rely on both partners working, that schools closing is so, so difficult to manage that people are very unhappy about it. Whereas in previous generations school being shut for a day didn't matter. I know of people agreeing to strike just to avoid conversations about whether to take annual leave/ emergency leave or how to sort their children out.

LydiaJ

vivatifosi wrote: »

Tbh I'm not surprised at the changes because the rate at which employers contributions have increased will make them want to start over with schemes, rather than wait for people to leave. I'd imagine the leaver rates are lower for your schemes as people move from one school or uni to another but stay in the same scheme, which is a big difference from private sector pensions. I'll be amazed if any public sector pension scheme looks the same in five years from now.

This isn't a dig btw, I'm a member of a public sector pension. Inadvertently GO has also set of a chain effect where the changes made to public sector pensions have had a knock-on effect on private sector ones. That is, that CPI will become the measure of inflation for deferred members of private schemes too. So it would be impossible to row back on some changes and then leaving them in effect in the private sector. Its a bit of a c*ck up I think.

I agree. As far as the "contribute more, work longer" bit is concerned, my main feeling is that I've been expecting it for years and am not surprised or upset by it now. I do, however, think that the free flow of teachers between independent and state schools is a valuable thing for the profession and for education. The teachers I know (from both sectors) think of ourselves just as teachers. If we want to identify as a particular kind of teacher, we're far more likely to categorise ourselves by the age group or subject that we teach than by the funding status of our workplaces. Lots of teachers have worked in both sectors over the course of their careers and think nothing of it. It would be a shame if changes to the TPS upset that.

silvercar

Just debating whether its worth putting the bins out tonight?

Double whammy because our council have decided that the street lights are switched off between midnight and 6am, so a pavement littered with random wheelie bins and paper collection boxes is a real hazard.

LydiaJ

silvercar wrote: »

Round here the strike seems very unpopular. Without making any political points on the NPT, it seems to me that so many families rely on both partners working, that schools closing is so, so difficult to manage that people are very unhappy about it. Whereas in previous generations school being shut for a day didn't matter. I know of people agreeing to strike just to avoid conversations about whether to take annual leave/ emergency leave or how to sort their children out.

My school can't close - too many boarders from too far away. We've got a few staff out on strike, but the school is setting up childcare for school age children of staff so that people don't have to be off work if their kids' school closes. They've done the same thing in the past for snow closures. The kind person from HR has agreed my kids can go to the childcare tomorrow even though I don't work on Wednesdays, because otherwise I was going to have to cancel going to see my parents tomorrow.

Mum is hanging on in there, but getting weaker and sleepier every day. After a few days of drinking with a straw she now can't manage that again, but they are giving her the nutrition drinks with the pipette that she has her meds with.