Like many people I have a pension with my employer. I pay into it every month. A hefty 6.5% of my salary, in fact. I have done this for years and have paid in thousands of pounds. When I signed up to this contract my employer agreed that they would take my contributions and in return give me a set pension at a set time. It’s not a bad deal, I admit. Unlike most pensions, I don’t have the option to vary the amount I pay in and I can’t move my money to a fund that I think might give me a better or less risky return however I am able to get a better idea of what my pension will be which helps me plan and gives me a bit of security. It seemed a fair compromise and that’s why I signed up.
Now my employer tells me not only must I work at least an extra five years and get less when I retire, which obviously I’m not happy about but at least I can plan for this over the next 30 years, but the kicker for me is I must now pay in 10% of my salary if I want to stay in the scheme. Like many of my colleagues in their 20’s and 30’s with young kids in full time childcare I was already struggling to pay 6.5% of my gross salary every month. 10% is just not an option and I would have to pull out of the scheme. So for me this debate is not about how big a pension I can get. It’s about whether I can get one at all. To add insult to injury even though my employed wants to change the terms of my contract without my agreement I can’t get any of the money back that I have already paid in or transfer it to a private pension fund so it is essentially worthless. Does that sound fair?
Now before you remind me that savings have to be made I should point out that we have already accepted a pay freeze which, with inflation at over 5%, is essentially a pay cut, there will be hundreds of thousands of job losses over the next couple of years and the public sector has been making efficiency savings in many areas. We are not getting off lightly. These pension changes will not help in any way with the short term belt tightening that we all accept needs to happen. They just mean that in a few years time as the economy and stock prices begin to improve and unemployment is once again under control all public sector workers will be stuck either with no pension at all or one whose benefits don’t justify their cost.
It is also important to remember that had successive governments invested our contributions rather than spending them (as private sector pensions have been required to do since all the pension scandals of the recent decades) there would be more than enough to make the payments they committed to. If a private company used their pension pot to buy new equipment or pay wages because they were running out of cash they would be breaking the law. If my employer is the government that made these laws surely I should get the same protection.
Most of us have not joined the public sector for the money. We care about what we do and often put up with quite a bit of abuse to try and do a good job but the government can’t rely on our good will to keep us in line while they attack our ability to plan for our future and provide for our family. If all of these changes go through even the most committed public servant will be questioning whether they should be looking elsewhere for work.
There will be two outcomes. Firstly, many of us will find work in the private sector which will make it harder for those already looking for work and have a deflationary effect on your wages because we’ll be cheaper to employ. Secondarily, working in the public sector will be so unattractive that these important services will be run mainly by the people who can’t get a better job. For me that is a truly scary thought.
God that’s awful, I don’t really have much idea what’s going on with it all as I avoid the news these days but after reading that I can completely understand by people are striking. I would be furious! X
Thanks. I hate that people seem to think we’re asking for something for nothing. x
I fully support you striking and hopefully a few people will have read this account of what this rich protecting, service depleting, poor bashing, government plans to do. The teachers in my kids school are not striking and frankly I’m disgusted. They should all be striking to protect the public services for future generations. As you say, it’s not just about your pensions, it’s about a very real reduction in your take home expendable income and the inevitable depletion of human resources in the public sector. Once Cameron has had his way, there won’t be a public sector, the gap between rich and poor will be similar to the third world and the rich won’t be paying any tax at all…. oh, and the green agenda will be totally forgotten…. oh, sorry, I forgot, the green agenda has already been completely forgotten. Anyhow, retirement age will probably be 80 by the time we get anywhere close and pensions will be a historical curiosity! The old will be huddled in churches to keep warm and fed by charity…. if they can no longer work. Is this really the society we want?
Thanks Fiona, I do think it is part of a cynical plan to run down all public services so they can’t function and then people will accept that they should be turned over to the private sector to ‘fix’.
Absolutely agree 🙂
Thank you.
Brilliantly and clearly put… a must read for anyone why wants to know what the strike is really about x
Thank you, I hope it helps people see that there are real families behind the pictures on the news.
I think that this is the best written post about the strikes I’ve found – so thank you! My kids are in school today – I’m not entirely sure why none of the teachers are striking, but I suspect (and may be very, very wrong but here goes) it’s because they feel a duty of care to those children who would otherwise be left for the day, on their own or just ‘out and about’ to fend for themselves. They are safer in school. Now that is damning statement on society as a whole and provokes a whole load more issues (pages and pages of them) that could be discussed at length (I’m not going to) but whilst I feel very much for those striking and completely appreciate where you’re coming from I also appreciate the efforts of those trying to give some of the children in our area a safe place to be that otherwise would not be available to them.
I know some people feel strongly about it but I don’t have a problem with people chosing not to strike. I know colleagues are in hospitals today manning the essential services so the rest of us can strike and in some cases getting a lot of stick for it. That’s the kind of committment you see across the public sector everyday and we should be celebrating it.
Another reason they may not be striking is because they’re in unions which aren’t taking part in the strike. My husband is in the RCN – they’re not taking part.
Very true, it does depend on which union you are in.
Excellent post Cat, very clear. It’s a strange world we live in when we are forced to accept things that our brains scream at us are wrong or illegal. Stand by your convictions, and if the only way to make people listen is to strike, then so be it. It’s not like you have many options.
I also agree with cheetahsinmyshoes hypothesis about the teachers who are not striking… I can only imagine it’s not because they don’t need the money, but because they feel a duty to protect the children’s needs – they are like the emergency cover while everyone else is out, publicly demanding fair treatment.
Good luck.
Thank you, it’s not something anyone is happy about doing but we really don’t feel we have a choice.
“If a private company used their pension pot to buy new equipment or pay wages because they were running out of cash they would be breaking the law”
Well said. It is a shame in the true sense of the word.
It does seem a crazy disparity. Thanks for stopping by.
Gosh, I sounded a bit radical earlier – I’m not disgusted at the teachers in my kids school, don’t know why I wrote that…… I’m disgusted at the state our country is falling into and the way protection systems for poor children, the old and the vulnerable are all falling into disarray. I’ve also been talking to some friends tonight (both public sector workers) about the lack of consultation and possible reforms that would make more sense (taking the average wage as the base for pensions rather than the final for example which would probably greatly favour women). The long and the short of it is that public sector or not, we’re probably all going to be better off organising our own retirement somehow… though lord alone knows how!
Exactly, there are a number of changes that could be considered without taking the pension out of reach for so many of us and of course I should have mentioned that in the NHS we did review the pension scheme a couple of years ago and agreed relatively amicably to put up our contributions, equalise retirement age for women and give up the lump sum we used to get on retirement. It’s not like we haven’t been pretty reasonable about compromising up to now.
I have now been teaching away from the UK for about 8 years and although my plan is to go back and use all my experiences and personal and professional development… these are the kind of things that are stopping me right now.
And… It’s a real shame…Because, when you live abroad, you actually realise how much the UK has to offer and how well the public system could/should work…But it isn’t. What is it we are planning to give our children?The future generations who are supposed to be prepared to continue making the UK a better place to live in?
I totally support the strike in any sector and encourage other professionals to continue fighting for what’s right. Let’s find out where our moral values went so we can work towards bringing them back.
It is depressing that we are heading down a road to a very limited public sector that does not fulfill many of the roles we would like it to.
Excellent post, which very clearly states the reasons behind the strike. Thank you. I’ve added a link to it at the end of my own strike post.
Thanks for this post, it really shed some light on it all for me and I have to confess how little I understood. Good stuff!