Does this make people angry?

[flip_flop]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/tax-advice/counci l-tax/article.html?in_article_id=421463&in_pag e_id=82

Obviously it won't make local government employees angry, but it bloody well does me.

I'm paying nearly �700 PA and rising for their final salary pensions.

Solutions? scrap their final salary schemes!

[Theland]

A level playing field would be nice.

[flip_flop]

Yes, why not? Things change. private pensions have taken a hammering.

Alternatively, make them contribute more and/or raise their retirement age to 68 or 70.

By absolutely no stretch of the imagination is is right or fair that 25% of council should be going in to the pension pot.

[Reverandfunk]

No because if they weren't wasting it on that it would be wasted on something else.

Exactly what qualifications do you need to have to become a councillor?

[jackthehat]

When women signed the contracts there would have been terms and conditions offered regarding maternity pay and leave.................would you suggest that these should not now be honoured, RAGGY because they offend your male sensibilities................?

[jake-the-peg]

An index linked pension will doubtlessly be one of the major benefits that people took into consideration when taking a local Government job.

Just withdrawing it would be similar to your employer turning around to you and saying "You know what I've decided to halve your salary".

Do you have a problem with all public pensions like policemen and fire officers.

Isn't it really just the case just that you dont like the council and want to punish them some how?

[flip_flop]

No no Jake - not at all, fair play to them if they have a final salary pension - I wish I had one.

What I object to is that it takes a quarter of our annual council tax bill to pay for it, which is outrageous.

I'm more than happy for them to have a final salary pension, which they can receive when they retire at 70 years of age. Increasing their retirement age will lessen the burden on the council tax.

[paulos66]

Yes, it makes flip flop angry

[jake-the-peg]

Yes but increasing the retirement age is still affecting the terms and conditions on which they accepted a career with is lets face it modestly paid compared to the private sector.

The Government tried this one with senior civil servants a few years ago and as I recall backed down after getting legal advice.

There is of course nothing to stop councils discontinuing final salary schemes the way that most businesses have if they've not done so already

[cruella]

I work for Local Government and the final salary pension certainly does not apply to me.
It was all changed over a year ago and unless you come under the 85 rule, then your contract for receiving final salaries do not apply.
I certainly will not get anything like my final year salary.

[flip_flop]

So is there a solution?

I contend that a quarter of everybody's council tax bill going into the pension pot is far far far too much (and no, increasing the council tax so that it is less than a quarter is not a solution).

[ruby27]

No not at all because I work for local government. Ha Ha!

I sit around all day in the most wasteful bureaucracy that has ever existed. The only purpose of my job is to waste tax payers money. These sort of posts make my day cos I know that I can respond on tax payers money and even when I am pensioned off I will still be stitching up loosers like you who have paid decent and honest tax paying money


looser

[flip_flop]

Know what? I kind of guessed from pretty much all of your other posts on this site that you would be - social worker would be my guess.

I'd love to see some public sector workers have a crack at the private sector - they'd last five minutes, particularly people like you who have a sixth formers view of life.

And what the hell does 'looser' mean?

Looser than what? Your kaftan?

[saxy_jag]

I am a local government employee and I can confirm what others have said before me.

I've just had my pension statement for this year. Wow! On current figures, I'll get a �1200 annual pension and �3000 lump sum. I hardly call that gold-plated.

I pay into my pension fund twice - once from my salary, and then again when I pay my council tax - and that's a lot more than �700 a year, believe me.

[flip_flop]

Well it bloody should be more than �700 if you are also paying into your own pension.

The �700 is the amount I pay PA for local government workers pensions - if you then add what I pay in to my pension PA it is significantly north of �700 - 000s not 00s, but nonetheless the �700 I pay would be better served in my pension for my old age rather than local government workers - why the hell should i have to pay for your pension: there are such things as personal pensions that others, myself included, have to take out.

Ignoring that point, I know it is a fact of life I have to put up with so so be it but, my basic argument is that it should not be 25% of my council tax bill - surely there are people on this site who agree 25% is too much isn't there? (or is it just me?).

Saxy, you may not be on a copper bottomed final salary scheme, but there are plenty in local government who are.

[saxy_jag]

If there are, flip-flop, then I don't know who. My pension will based on the amount of contributions I make into the fund and as far as I know, that goes for most of us.

Many private employers pay contributions towards their employees' pension schemes, and they pay those contributions as part of their overheads. When their overheads go up, so do their customer charges. Your local council is no different. If they don't make money, how the hell do you think they're going to provide your services? And if they don't provide their employees with a decent pension scheme, then people aren't going to want to work for them.

By the sound of it, you've never worked for a local authority. Do you know how appallingly some of them treat their lower paid workers? You know, some employers provide private health care schemes, expensive cars, generous bonuses and a whole host of other benefits. Most council workers get stuff all benefits from their employers (we're not even allowed to accept corporate gifts), and if a half-way decent pension is all they're going to end up with, well good for them. That a quarter of my council tax pays for a fraction of our cleaner's pension - which is going to be even more modest than mine - bothers me little. That some obnoxious oik objects to that but can do little about it, pleases me immensely.

From what you say, your council tax must be around �2800, which would indicate to me that you can afford a decent house in a decent area and can afford a decent quality of life. So why, when you've retired, should I pay to supplement your nice, private-pension-funded lifestyle with a standard state pension when there's an old lady down the road who would starve without hers? Especially when you have an objection to giving her a little support.

[flip_flop]

Obnoxious oik!

Why?

[saxy_jag]

Sorry?

[flip_flop]

"That some obnoxious oik objects to that but can do little about it, please me immensely".

I assumed the obnoxious oik you were referring to was me, and I just wondered why.

[saxy_jag]

If the cap fits.