Pension Reform

It is time for me to vent my spleen on pension reform. Many of you who have followed this blog will now I am a public sector worker in the UK.

I am rather angry at these changed to my pension. The issue for me is the increase in contributions I will have to make over the next few years. I am a single parent with debt and overheads. The new arrangements as detailed so far will mean my pay will drop for the next three years. I am taking a pay cut. I am paying the penalty for being at the top of my pay band. I receive no further incremental points so I will need a so called cost of living raise.

My pay has been frozen for two years with the offer of a 1% rise at most after that. Therefore the increases to my contributions are effectively going to give a pay cut every year for the next 3 years.

At least I have a job I might hear some of you say. Well that is true. However my options for the coming years are that bankruptcy is a definite option. Sell my home to pay off my debts? Drop out of my pension scheme? All viable options.

Now if I were working for a company that was struggling in the marketplace it may be what I would have to do to ensure I still have a job.

However I work in the NHS which is becoming busier every year as we develop new treatments and the population ages. I am having my pay reduced in actual and real terms every year whilst being expected to see more patients than ever before.

If I worked for a similarly successful company in the private sector I would not be having this rant because the company would be willing and able to reward me for my labour.

All this is just to plug a gap in the chancellor's budget.

My contribution won't actually be invested for me as in a private pension scheme. No, the way the treasury works is that it has income and outgoings and NO income is ascribed a particular use when it goes into the treasury.

It all goes into a communal pot and then the government pays out. and what it can't pay it borrows. So these extra contributions are not for MY pension they are an extra form of taxation, a hidden income tax. Their purpose is to swell the government coffers.

And all because of corporate greed in the city of London who couldn't keep their hands in their pockets and created toxic debt that the government was forced to bail out so as to prevent an even bigger melt down of the economy.