Government backs down over pensions
 The government has reached an agreement with public sector unions that current public sector workers should keep a normal retirement age of 60. A higher pensionable age for new members of staff will be set at 65, although they will still be able to retire on a full pension at 60 if they make larger contributions to their pension funds.
Alan Johnson, secretary of state for the Department of Trade and Industry, said: “All sides have worked hard to reach an agreement. A transparent exchange of information has allowed a shared understanding of the challenge and enabled progress to be made. This is a sensible step forward, achieved through proper negotiations, which puts public sector pensions on a sound financial footing.”
TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber commented: “The government has accepted that today’s public sector staff should not have their pensions promises broken and need suffer no detriment to their pensions arrangements.”
He continued: “All new public sector pensions schemes will be based on defined benefits, linked to earnings and index linked. Public sector workers will continue to be able to retire at 60, if that is their wish, into the future.”
The Public Sector Forum will meet on 1 November to decide the next steps in the process with a view to restart sector discussions. The NHS already has a committee and the SoR is represented on this group. Subject to the outcome of the debates at the Forum, the committee will negotiate the content of the scheme for new members. Any new proposals will, in accordance with the principles, be no less favourable than the protected scheme.
Society members will be informed of progress through the website and in the pages of Synergy News.
Click here for more information.
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