Lib Dems continue campaign against ‘modest’ public sector pensions
15 June 2010
Nick Clegg’s attack on public sector pensions is part of a
long-running Liberal Democrat campaign against the ‘modest’
pensions of local government staff, health workers and
teachers.
Unite, the largest union in the country, said today (Tuesday)
that the majority of public sector pensioners receive a pension of
less than £5,000 a year which is hardly the ‘gold plated’ riches
that Nick Clegg alludes to.
Unite’s assistant general secretary for public services, Gail
Cartmail, said: ”It is deeply ironic and very sad that the Liberal
Democrats, who first introduced the state pension with Lloyd George
in the 1900s, should now be mounting a right-wing campaign to
decimate retirement incomes a century later.”
Gail Cartmail added: ”Last year, the TUC said in a briefing that
the majority of public sector pensioners receive a pension of less
than £5,000 a year and that half the women on NHS pensions receive
less than £3,500 annually.
”We are not talking about gold-plated riches here, but modest
pensions needed to help loyal public servants in their old
age.“
Earlier this year, the Liberal Democrats claimed that the
pension deficit for local councils in England and Wales could hit
£60 billion this year which Unite said ‘was well wide of the
mark’.
Gail Cartmail said that three keys facts need to be borne in
mind as the public sector pension debate hots up in the run-up to
next week’s emergency budget.
These are:
- that the current level of public sector pension provision is
self-funding i.e. the money needed is covered by the contributions
made by employers and employees. This scheme is not asking for
bail-outs from the government.
- the cost of providing a public sector pension, according to a
report by the Pension Policy Institute, is the same as the cost of
a typical final salary scheme in the private sector.
- the government has negotiated with the trade unions and
agreement reached to raise the retirement age for new entrants for
public sector schemes; to increase average member contributions;
and to cap the increase in government costs.
ENDS
For further information, please ring: Gail Cartmail 07768 931
305 or Shaun Noble, communications officer (health sector) on 020
7420 8951 or 07768 693 940
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