C11 Public sector pensions in the UK

Composite of motions 29, 30 and 31

Congress reaffirms its support for good quality, affordable, final salary occupational pensions in both the private and public sectors and deplores private sector employers using the recession as an excuse to attack occupational pensions.

Congress calls upon the General Council to:

i)        call for a political consensus on the means of providing adequate occupational pension provision for all workers

ii)      seek government action to support pension schemes, including helping schemes manage their deficits during the current economic crisis.

Congress notes that cuts to public or private sector occupational pensions will disproportionately affect women, who have lower average pensions and longer average retirements.

Congress deplores the resumed attacks on public sector pensions by politicians and the media, which are economically illiterate and driven by an agenda to eliminate defined benefit pension schemes in the public sector.

Congress notes that the 2005 PSF agreement between the Government and TUC led to agreed reforms of the Teachers’, NHS and Civil Service Schemes, involving higher employee contribution rates, cost-sharing and higher retirement ages for new joiners.

Congress affirms that public sector workers are making a clear, substantial and demonstrable commitment to their pensions, which are, as deferred pay, an integral part of the longstanding settlement on the public sector remuneration package.

Congress believes that the real problem in UK pension provision is not that public sector provision is too generous but that private sector provision is inadequate and worsening. Arguments for ‘equality of misery’ based upon the cost of public sector pensions fail to recognise that the withdrawal from defined benefit schemes in the private sector is building a welfare debt to be borne by the taxpayer for future generations. Public servants have already paid for their pension through lower salary levels than for comparable jobs in the private sector.

Congress resolves vigorously to defend public sector pension schemes and terms and conditions of service in the face of the economic downturn and calls to bear down on public sector pensions and pay.

It notes that the current economic crisis has been created by unregulated banking practices fuelled by corporate greed and is not the making of public service workers. Consequently, it believes that public sector workers and their families should not be penalised for the manifest failures of the financial institutions and government regulatory bodies.

It notes that public services are vital in times of recession and that public services provide excellent value for money.

Congress reaffirms the policies set out in the 2008 Congress resolution on pension policy and calls on the General Council to:

a)      defend public or private sector pension schemes, specifically against increased pension ages

b)      highlight the costs and impact of the retreat from defined benefit schemes

c)      urge all democratic political parties to recognise that pension rights are an important part of public sector remuneration that must not be unilaterally reduced

d)      work constructively with the political parties to ensure that an equitable approach is taken to any subsequent changes in managing the cost of providing public sector pensions

e)      support and co-ordinate public service unions in campaigns and industrial action to defend public sector schemes

f)       campaign for mandatory employer contributions to employee pensions at a minimum level of 10 per cent of pay.

Mover:  National Union of Teachers
Seconder:  FDA

Supporter:  Association of Educational Psychologists