Public Sector Pensions

bendix

caledonia84 wrote: »

I work in the public sector, and I'm also in the same boat as you, I feel held to ransom aswell. I need to make a decission on what I'm going to do and I really don't know.

We may get a better deal than in the private sector but that was sold as a perk of the Job, if I was to work as an equivelant private sector employee I would be making more money.

I actually feel I have been miss sold a pension, I can see this coming out in the wash in years to come, such as people being miss sold ppi is now.

It is frustrating to say the least that the majority of the taxpayers dont fully understand how our pensions work, and how much we pay in to our own pensions, yet are very quick to point out how good a deal we get.

There was a fund put in place to allow our pension to be self perpetuating (or at least much more sustainable) but Margaret Thatcher decided to spend it and then never put the money back.

:(:(:(

I don't know where to begin in pulling this ridiculous post apart.

Mis-sold a public sector pension? Are you freakin' mad? How on earth do you justify such a stupid statement?

As for the comments about how much you put into your pensions, don't even start on that track pal. Yes, you contribute to your pension but nowhere near as much (compared to the benefits) as those in the private sector, so don't come on here expecting to get sympathy. It rubs people the wrong way.

And the final glorious comment - Mrs Thatcher spent your pension fund. For the love of god, I'd love to hear you back that up with real facts.

Unbelievable. Just when I thought the level of financial savvy on MSE couldn't get any lower, you come along. Well done.

System

If this sort of financial insight and critical judgement is typical of the kind of people we have to support in the public sector, then the sooner it is drastically slimmed down the better.

atush

It is frustrating to say the least that the majority of the taxpayers dont fully understand how our pensions work, and how much we pay in to our own pensions, yet are very quick to point out how good a deal we get.

I do not know where you work int he PS, but I do know that most of us out here in the real world DO understand your pension as even with currently contributing 28% of salary we can't hope to retire on a pension as generous.

You should, if you are wise, pay the new higher contributions and keep adding years to your FS scheme. If you don;t, we thank you.

You must understand that if you are now a teacher or doctor etc and have enjoyed a free university education that the 15K per year or more that new students will have to pay to graduate and become the next generation's new teachers and doctors. Plus the burden on workers is set to increase with the retirement of the baby boomers. You really need to understand the reality of the situation.

I read a recent article in the Economist that said even the increase in pension age agreed by the govt isn't enough- it should be 70 for all of western europe.

caledonia84

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

If this sort of financial insight and critical judgement is typical of the kind of people we have to support in the public sector, then the sooner it is drastically slimmed down the better.

Lets not forget, it was the upper echelons of the private sector who helped cause the situation we are in right now, I can't understand why these criminals are not being held accountable.

Mis-sold a public sector pension? Are you freakin' mad? How on earth do you justify such a stupid statement?

I feel I've been miss sold as I have bought into a scheme and signed a contract only to be told "actually were just going to ask you to pay in more money to get less back, that contract you signed means nothing and we can change it at any point". I am allready on a NEW public sector scheme where I don't get a final salary pension, have to work 40 years instead of 30 to get MUCH less than my colleagues on the old pension scheme, and I'm ok with that because thats what I SIGNED UP FOR.

The Hutton Report said civil service pensions were sustainable, so these proposed changes are not about paying for the cost of our pension scheme but are being used to get more money into Treasury coffers to reduce the deficit.

One final point: can we, once and for all, nail the right-wing lie that public-sector pensions are "unaffordable"? The cost of public-sector pensions is set to fall in the coming decades. Don't believe me? The hutton report commissioned by the coalition government and used by ministers as a justification for the "reforms" to pension contributions, states on page 22:

There have been significant reforms to the main public-service pension schemes over the last decade, including increased pension ages for new members and a change in the indexation of pensions from RPI to CPI indexation. Some of these changes have reduced projected benefit payments in the coming decades. For the interim report, the commission asked the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) to project future public-service pensions expenditure. It projected benefit payments to fall gradually to around 1.4 per cent of GDP in 2059-2060, after peaking at 1.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010-11.

As for Thatcher you're right I can't back this up with hard facts maybe in a few years time the documents will be released to the national archive but even then, I can't imagine the FOI act will allow the public to see them.

Unbelievable. Just when I thought the level of financial savvy on MSE couldn't get any lower, you come along. Well done.

Thanks for that, my first post on here by the way, I don't pretend to be financially "savvy" thats why I came to MSE for help, wasn't intending on rubbing people up the wrong way.

You should, if you are wise, pay the new higher contributions and keep adding years to your FS scheme. If you don;t, we thank you.

Thanks for the advice, I was under the impression that because there is no "fund" so to speak that a chunk of our pension contributions are going straight to paying the pensions of those allready retired instead of being our deferred wages, therefore if even a small amount of people pulled out then there would be a bigger burden on the taxpayer?

moonrakerz

Please don't try and persuade these [STRIKE]idiots[/STRIKE] clever people from pulling out of their publicly funded pensions - less for the rest of us to contribute to their "gold plated" pensions in years to come

Old_Slaphead

caledonia84 wrote: »

The Hutton Report said civil service pensions were sustainable, so these proposed changes are not about paying for the cost of our pension scheme but are being used to get more money into Treasury coffers to reduce the deficit.

The Hutton report said nothing about fairness to the rest of the workforce.

It would be affordable to give top bankers a £10million additional bonus each from the taxpayer - affordable but hardly fair!

Anyway what's wrong in using the money to get the deficit down - a big reason for the increase in deficit has been the money splashed out on the public sector (including pensions) in the last decade.

Hutton predicts what the GDP may be in 30-40 years. Crikey, the powers that be can't reliably estimate with any degree of accuracy, growth for the next few months.

I feel I've been miss sold as I have bought into a scheme and signed a contract only to be told "actually were just going to ask you to pay in more money to get less back

You'll get more back anyway because you'll probably live longer

dunstonh

Lets not forget, it was the upper echelons of the private sector who helped cause the situation we are in right now, I can't understand why these criminals are not being held accountable.

You meant the public servants that allowed it to happen?

caledonia84

It would be affordable to give top bankers a £10million additional bonus each from the taxpayer - affordable but hardly fair!

we're not talking about giving public sector a bonus here are we? I understand your point but you are using a very poor analogy to make it.

You meant the public servants that allowed it to happen?

No, I definately did not.

Old_Slaphead

caledonia84 wrote: »

No, I definately did not.

Don't you remember Brown fawning all over the bankers?

He could hardly wait to get his hands on his share of the booty

caledonia84

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

Don't you remember Brown fawning all over the bankers?

He could hardly wait to get his hands on his share of the booty

Sorry my political knowledge is bad as as my financial one, not sure I understand what you mean