Are you a teacher or assistant educating our children, or
Are you a nurse, doctor, ambulance-man or porter looking after our health, or
Are you a police-man or fire-man protecting our property and person, or
Are you in an office ensuring the State machine runs smoothly
If you are, or work in any other public sector job, look closely at your latest monthly Pay Slip.
In addition to the large deductions for Tax and NI, there will be an amount for Pensions.
If you are lucky to be earning the national average wage this deduction will be at least £135 per month, plus your employer contribution and your contracted out state S2R refund.
Are you aware that before this money hits the ground it is being paid out to meet someone else’s pension. It could be the person who did your job before you, or that nice canteen lady who retired last month.
The state is running your pension scheme on a “pay as you go” or unfunded basis. Common sense tells one that this is a nonsense. Such “robbing Peter to pay Paul” is bound to end in future grief. This is where the State is now, resulting in the pension review to salvage the position.
Their proposals are short term, to cut benefits; delay retirement; and increase contributions.
These contributions are your personal savings for your pension future and should be put aside and invested on your behalf for that purpose, to be there when you retire.
In my opinion any other use of this money is illegal, amounting to a criminal mis-use of funds at the least.
You need to act now to protect your retirement future.
The Union or Federation appears to be waiting final proposals, when it may well be too late. It is time to push them to work on your behalf and protect your pension interests now. After all it is your money, taken from your wages, or as part of your employment contract, it should be put aside and made to work for you
In my future blogs I am going to discuss this topic further and hope to explain what I perceive to be the problems with the current system in a simple, accessible way.
