Many of you will remember a couple of disputes a few years ago in which we were forced to defend our pension schemes against attempts by the employers to reduce our entitlements.
Overall we were quite successful in defending our futures but one of the things that did change was our retirement age was linked to the state pension age. This is bad news for members born in the 70s as the date that this should change to 68 was brought forward to 2038. A move that seemed to defy recent news that life expectancy was no longer increasing.
UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “This will be another bitter blow for public sector workers whose workplace retirement is also linked to the state pension.
The good news is that most of the schemes are in good shape and no contribution rises are proposed. In fact despite everything we still need to be encouraging members to join the scheme https://www.unison.org.uk/get-help/knowledge/pensions/local-government-pension-scheme Think you can’t afford it? Don’t forget the 50/50 plan, a half price version of our pension plan.
There are some governance changes, and Plymouth (Devon County/Peninsular Pensions) are now part of a Brunell Pensions. a syndicate designed to generate efficiencies and reduce the amount that fund managers cream off
Conference did identify one risk. Too much of our investments are in fossil fuels, and delegates voted unanimously for policy supporting fossil fuel divestment of local government members’ £200 billion pension funds. you can read more about this issue below
