Civil Service Pay and Pensions
Civil Service Pay and Pensions
12/10/2011
Please see attached information in respect of the link between Civil Service pay and Civil Service pensions.
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Dear Colleague
Please see attached information in respect of the link between Civil Service pay and Civil Service pensions which may be of assistance in highlighting the total unacceptability of the UK Governments plans to increase the contribution rates, etc that civil servants pay towards their pensions.
Yours sincerely
BRIAN CAMPFIELD
General Secretary
CIVIL SERVICE PENSIONS – FURTHER REASONS TO VOTE ‘YES’ FOR STRIKE ACTION
The copy of an original contract of employment for UK civil servants states:-
“Civil Service pay is set at levels to take account of benefits provided under the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme and therefore no deduction is made from salary except for widows’ and widowers’ benefits. All civil servants are required to contribute 1.5% of salary towards widows’/widowers’ benefits.”
This position was reinforced in the early 1980s by “the Scott Enquiry into the Value of Pensions”. Paragraph 13 of the Scott Report stated:-
“The adjustments to take account of the differences between the Civil Service Pension Scheme and the analogue (private sector) schemes effectively mean that civil servants pay a sizeable contribution towards their pension, but, because the main part of the contribution is made in the form of a reduction in gross pay, this is often not realised. The effective contribution by civil servants, at around 8% of pensionable pay, is getting on for twice the average direct contribution by employees in the analogous schemes.”
This report was commissioned by the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
In fact it should be noted that the consequence of generally lower pensionable salaries than elsewhere also results in lower pension values than would otherwise apply and a consequent further saving to the Treasury.
The proposed increases to Civil Service employee pension contributions are a breach of the “settlement” that was implicitly endorsed by a series of previous governments. It represents a complete breach of the accepted arrangements and is totally unjustifiable.
Vote “Yes” for strike action
Vote "Yes" for action short of strike action
Return your ballot immediately
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