Public Sector Pensions

CLAPTON

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

I'm agreeing with you but saying those who were mis-sold mostly got their money back at the expense of existing private pension plan holders (they were the 'innocent' ones that actually suffered with many years of dire returns after their with profits funds had been pillaged by the insurance companies to pay mis-selling compensation).

yes, always a problems; one innocent person 'wins' and some other innocent person loses.

JoeCrystal

Ah... I forgotten about that. In that case, you are right

Separate arrangements currently exist for the pensions for the three great offices of state - the Prime Minister, Speaker of the House of Commons and Lord Chancellor. They are entitled to a pension of half their final office-holder’s salary, regardless of length of service.

However, in January 2008 the Review Body on Senior Salaries recommended that these special pension arrangements should not be extended to new incumbents of these offices. They should instead be covered by the PCPF arrangements in place for ministers. The Government accepted this recommendation with respect to the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, but not for the Speaker of the House of Commons (whose position was considered to be “substantially different”). The Government also announced that the new arrangements would apply to the current Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor.

EDIT: I dug further...

The Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Speaker of the House of Commons also benefit from unusual pension arrangements by which from their first day in office they are entitled to a pension equal to one half of their final salary when the leave that office, regardless of age or length of service. These provisions were originally justified on the grounds that it would not be dignified for the Prime Minister and Speaker to have to seek employment after leaving office, and the Lord Chancellor, who must be a lawyer, should not return to practice. We do not believe these arguments remain valid. For all three posts, salaries and normal pension entitlements have improved substantially. The Speaker is invariably a long serving member of the Commons and by convention is not opposed at elections by the major political parties. He or she is therefore sure to be entitled to an adequate pension from the PCPF. The Prime Minister can now expect to have a career, or a portfolio of earning opportunities, after leaving office. The Lord Chancellor is also likely to have a variety of opportunities on leaving office. The previous Lord Chancellor proposed that judges should be able to resign or retire from the bench and return to practice, subject to suitable safeguards, and it is hard to see why the same should not apply to Lord Chancellors

Hmm...

atush

caledonia84 wrote: »

Sorry, apparently it is a final salary scheme............my mistake.

I was under the impression we had been moved to an average earnings scheme. I must be getting confused with what is being proposed and what I have.

I was VERY confused as far I knew that firefighters had a FS pension scheme. I was thinking you were some sort of Private firefighter.

So hopefully now you feel a little less ripped off, a little less happy with yoru union dues as they aren't giving you the information you need to make an informed opinion, and a little happier that you are Still even with the new terms getting a good deal pensionwise.

And do read up- it is actually kind of interesting.

caledonia84

atush wrote: »

I was VERY confused as far I knew that firefighters had a FS pension scheme. I was thinking you were some sort of Private firefighter.

So hopefully now you feel a little less ripped off, a little less happy with yoru union dues as they aren't giving you the information you need to make an informed opinion, and a little happier that you are Still even with the new terms getting a good deal pensionwise.

And do read up- it is actually kind of interesting.

Yes, definately glad I visited the site, I'll wait and see what the official proposals are, and make a much more informed decission, can't see me leaving the scheme now though.....

bendix

Credit to the OP for being prepared to look at this in a more open-minded way than the first post implied.

Too many come on here with fixed ideas and see any divergence of opinion as an insult; the OP at least acknowledges his/her lack of knowledge and is prepared to listen to others who know a bit more about it.