Private Pensions Slaughtered Public untouched

hugheskevi

doris540 said:

Not forgetting of course the fact that the employer in the Public sector contribute a far higher percentage to the employees pension which us as tax payers in the private sector pay towards a thought if you took say 500 people from both the public sector and the private sector what percentage would retire at 55 from each i wouldnt mind betting it would be the public sector due to the enhanced pensions over the private sector Prime example how many Police do you see working past 55

If the tax paid is your concern, you should be pleased the public sector uses Defined Benefit schemes. With the exception of the LGPS which is funded, the employer contribution in the other schemes is simply money flowing from the Treasury to Departments/employers, and then back again in the form of employer contributions. They have to be paid eventually of course, but that is tax paid in the future, not now.

If Defined Contribution pensions were used, the Exchequer would immediately lose both lose the employee contribution and also the funds from employer contributions. Existing pensions would still have to be funded, and this would create a revenue shortfall which would need to be funded by more borrowing, lower spending or more tax.

Mick70

Public sector staff are often paid less , no annual bonuses etc and often contribute a higher percentage into their pensions . Bit of a needless tantrum by the OP 

Woby_Tide

It's not really a tantrum but some of the points remain valid
Public sector and private sector pay is a lot more aligned than it ever was, especially in the middle ground. The poorest paid and the best paid people however are definitely in the Private Sector, that is irrefutable
Pension contributions are higher in the Public Sector for the very reason that the pension provision far outweighs that in the Private Sector. There is no way that even if the Private Sector pension schemes had the same level of contributions as Public Sector that people would be receiving the same level of pensions as the Public Sector do as it's impossible due to the way the investments work

Until CDCs(Collective Defined Contributions) are brought in (sooner rather than later hopefully) there is zero chance of having something akin to a Public Sector pension for those not in it. CDCs may hopefully provide the middle ground for those in self employment and in private sector firms to have more stability and access to a better provision. Why it's taken this long to get to this point is another question but as usual bureaucracy and delay have been at the forefront. It's going to take another generation to see if it does address some of the problems but in that time who knows where we will be as by that point the bulk of Final Salary schemes will have seen their last recipients die out and the next generation of career averages will be in payment and the landscape will have changed from what it is now