Your Pension is under Attack

Lord Hutton's report on public service pension schemes has now been published. The proposals mean we will pay more, work longer and get less.

We are told that public sector workers are privileged with gold plated pensions. This is a lie—most are left to survive on less than £5,000 a year.

The changes mean:

Increasing the employee contribution by 3% to almost 10% of your salary

Increasing the Retirement Age

Using the Consumer Price Index rather than Retail Price Index to calculate yearly pension increases – this doesn’t take into account housing and utility prices – yet another cut

Moving from a Final Salary to a Career Average Scheme

Removal of the requirement for a broadly comparable pension for TUPE transferred staff

For more information go to: http://www.unison.org.uk/pensions/protectour.asp

This will hit six million workers. The government expect the poor to keep paying for the crisis, while the rich get richer. The wealthiest 1 percent get some £10 billion in tax relief on their pensions every year. For every pound we spend as taxpayers on public sector pensions, we pay £2.50 subsidising the pensions of this tiny minority.

Dave Prentis said of the attacks:

“This would amount to a savage pay cut when members are already suffering a two-year pay freeze. Civil servants have also been subjected to a recruitment embargo, job cuts and attacks on their terms and conditions. They are in no mood to accept unfair and unwarranted attacks on their pension scheme. Pension schemes need long-term, stable management and not knee-jerk responses to the latest fiscal crisis. These new proposals have nothing to do with remuneration levels or the sustainability of public sector pensions. They are simply a crude method of using public sector workers to pay down more than their fair share of the deficit”.

UNISON will be campaigning to protect our pensions. The branch needs a Pensions Contact in every team and workplace - whether you work in Local Government, the Health Service, Further Education or a private or voluntary sector employer.

As a Pensions Contact we would ask you to talk to members and non-members to get their views about the proposed changes to their pensions and feed them back to the branch. If you're interested please contact the branch office - 01934 634759 or unison@n-somerset.gov.uk

Delegates to UNISON’s National Conference will be voting on whether to ballot members on industrial action in order to protect our pensions.