To think public sector pensions should be slashed?

Parliamentarian's pensions should certainly be slashed! That would fund an awful lot of jobs

Good luck recruiting into social care - already an incredibly dire situation - if you take away the possibility of a decent pension as well.

You're providing very 'end of nose' thinking.

for balance, not all private sector payrises are brilliant. it depends on the industry and the firm and the job you do. however that's not to diminish the fact that public sector payrises aren't bobbins or that you'd even get one. and even without a payrise you're likely to still be paid more in the private sector.

They have been. A public sector pension now is nothing like 30 years ago (or even 10)

I did nearly 40 years. I deal with members of the public every day. Every day I had people shouting, I had to manage the expectations of very unreasonable people. It was a stressful job because I was dealing with people who were stressed themselves. And every few weeks I was on call out of hours. So I could be called at 2 a.m by a homeless person.
I never earned a huge salary and pay increases were really not high.
My brother in law, could not believe how little I was paid, considering the amount of responsibility and stress. He earned far more in the private sector for a job that really was a doddle. His words not mine.
I actually loved my job, when I could assist someone it was great. But it took its toll.
And then I'm told that after all that, having paid in for nearly 40 years I don't deserve the pension that I contributed towards, on the understanding that I didn't earn a huge amount in those 40 years. That was the deal.
I'm sorry if others don't get great pensions, but the answer is to do something so all working people can have a decent retirement.

And I don't know where OP is getting their figures from but in the 10 years I've been in public sector I've not had one pay award that's been anywhere near inflation- mostly more like the 1-2% values that OP is quoting for private sector. Thats why there's been a lot of striking over pay lately- decades of real-term decreases. Meanwhile my DH, same specialism but private sector, has been getting much better, consistent pay rises due to skills shortages and more flexible pay policies.

I'm old enough to remember the heady days of Gordon Brown as chancellor when we were told we couldn't have pay rises in line with inflation as inflation was higher than the Bank of England target and public sector pay was an important tool in controlling inflation.

Of course, when inflation was low we enjoyed pay freezes, pension downgrades and austerity.

I think she’s just making them up. I don’t know about other areas of the private sector but it’s fairly well known that the NHS staff have had a significant pay cut over the last decade. A 1-2% pay rise above inflation would be more than welcome (but not enough).

I work in a public sector role. Police. I pay over 500 a month into my pension which shocks some people when they tell me how lucky I am to have a good pension.
Public sectors ( the ones I know) get no bonus payments, little progression or training opportunities, certainly no other perks. Having spent a few years looking into the private sector, it's much more lucrative. So many police are leaving for private sector work. I'm not sure what paper you read but public sectors don't get payrises the same as private. My now private sector colleagues laugh at me as they take their bonus every year and get private heath care

Remember public sector employees often put in a higher contribution themselves and for others it is simply part of the package eg military is non contributory, you are welcome to apply to put your life at risk! I don't think anyone is doing it for the pension

My LGPS will be worth about £15k annually when I retire in about 25 years…NMW job. 40 years service 🤷‍♀️

You can't slash pensions that people have worked for. That would be breach of contract.

This.

And I don't know where OP is getting their figures from but in the 10 years I've been in public sector I've not had one pay award that's been anywhere near inflation- mostly more like the 1-2% values that OP is quoting for private sector. Thats why there's been a lot of striking over pay lately- decades of real-term decreases. Meanwhile my DH, same specialism but private sector, has been getting much better, consistent pay rises due to skills shortages and more flexible pay policies.

I reckon I could increase my earnings by up to 50% by moving to private sector. But I value lower contracted hours, having flexi time, more days of annual leave and the pension, so I've done my sums and committed. If my pension was slashed, those sums wouldn't make sense any more. I'm in a specialism where there's a chronic shortage of staff and people don't apply to join because of the low salaries (job ads now flag benefits to try to lure people in). Our service would fall apart if the benefits were eroded too.

But people live so long -that wasn’t counted in when the pension system was set up.
How can you pay out for 30 years No way have people paid in enough.

There is some naive understanding. Final pension schemes no longer exist but when they did it didn't mean that the recipient retires on their final income.

Plus there is a widows pension but there is no pot to be inherited. You are guaranteed a pension for life but your pension dies with you regardless of how much you have paid in. All of it not a taxable amount.

In the main, public sector employees such as nurses, firefighters, social workers, etc are earning modest salaries so it's only fair that after a lifetime of service they receive a decent pension.

They also don’t have the mobility available in the private sector, so can’t negotiate a higher salary in a competitive job market. Swapping one local authority for another as a social worker might get you a point up the salary scale but there’s little room for negotiation. Having a secure pension helps keep people in jobs others wouldn’t do for all the money in the world.

The public sector pay and pension structure is such that it attracts people who think and plan long-term.

Politics is full of people who think and plan from one election cycle to another, business is full of people looking to make money NOW. It is vital that people hard wired to work to 40, 50 or 100 year goals are there in the decision-making process as well, and that the best and brightest of them can get promoted, and that they have the freedom from distraction and worry that lets them do their jobs.

At my public service workplace the pension contributions are not huge for the vast majority of employees. Only the high earners get a decent contribution. It's on a sliding scale starting at 5.5% for lower earners and up to 12.5% for the highest paid.

In the main, public sector employees such as nurses, firefighters, social workers, etc are earning modest salaries so it's only fair that after a lifetime of service they receive a decent pension.

A friend retired from nearly 40 years as an inner-city district nurse - just imagine how hard that job has been over the decades; she deserves every penny of her pension. Plus as a result of this pension her State Pension is reduced.

It's hard enough as it is these days to recruit front line public sector workers, without the perk of a half-decent pension.

Completely agree. In the nhs at least, I have yet to meet a single employee able to work 50 years! There isn’t the personal capacity for that, physically or mentally. The absolute max I’ve seen is 40 years. Working nights, weekends well into your 60’s- not a chance! The patients will be in better condition by that point.

I do think there's a decent case for public sector pay and benefit reform, as increasingly the public sector is missing out on people who need money for high living costs in their younger years rather than a more comfortable retirement. More pay/pension/benefit flexibility would massively increase the pool of potential talent. But that wouldn't achieve OP's desire to "slash".

I do wonder if OP gets that these are contractual obligations, and "slashing" pension entitlements today wouldn't bear financial fruit until at least a couple of decades down the line?

What do you mean by compound interest in the context of a salary raise? Do you mean if they were to save the amount of the increase into a high-interest savings account?

I agree OP. Also not sure why everyone is saying that pay in the private sector is higher. Maybe for some people up higher in the food chain but I always had fairly low paid jobs, no regular pay rises (my last rises were peanuts), never had a bonus in my life. Just saying.

CS salaries are rubbish. I'd love to do my job in a particular department but I'm not prepared to take the required pay cut (and that's from a public sector, not CS, salary).

Yes, my point was it isn't top whack for really quite a lot of responsibility and less than 10% of civil servants are SCS.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2023/statistical-bulletin-civil-service-statistics-2023#grade