Labour isn't working - Thread 21

[TheNuthatch]

A chat thread for those who don't like this Labour government. 💙

We are bracing for the budget 😬

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

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It's not affordable though, so it needs to change.

It isn't equitable for the public sector to have such amazing pensions where the private sector doesn't, particularly where the country can't afford it.

They need to change the working conditions for teachers. That would have far more impact than pensions, IMO.

ETA, mine is also a 3% employer contribution. Not many private sector people get more than the bare minimum. If they also add NI above £2k contributions for private sector pensions, how is that fair, given the disparity already with the public sector?

The public sector workers need to realise how much of a cracking deal they have.

No which is why smart people aren’t staying for the pension. We have no pot. It can be changed on a whim. My husband left the public sector and his pension is now faring much, much better in the private sector. His pension will be huge when he retires.

It’s not as black and white as just changing. Not if you want a functioning NHS, education system and defence. Not that I would say it’s functioning right now.

Rachel Reeves will unveil £15bn of extra benefits spending in this week’s Budget, funded by a tax raid on the middle classes.

The Chancellor will end the two-child benefit cap in its entirety and increase benefit payments by nearly 4 per cent, while financing about-turns on winter fuel cuts and welfare reform.

She will also drag an estimated nine million people into paying higher rates of income tax by freezing thresholds in a move critics argue breaks Labour’s election manifesto pledges.

The annual cost of the four policies comes to £15bn, which, added to changes in Ms Reeves’s 2024 Budget, amounts to an extra £18bn to the benefits bill since Labour took power last year, according to Telegraph analysis.

The plans have fuelled warnings that the Treasury is “vulnerable” to a market backlash unless the country’s public spending, which is being pushed up by welfare bills, is controlled.

But Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to keep Labour MPs onside amid speculation about plots against his leadership, with fewer than one in five voters supporting his party in the polls.

But your DH is a hugely high earner. What his pension is doing is really NOT reflective of your average private sector worker. If you think it is, I'm amazed.

I never said that. However, just changing pensions which IME are not keeping skilled people in the public sector, isn’t that simple. It’s not that black and white.

If the pension isn't keeping them in, just change it!

Something needs to give.

A £15bn increase? 😱 That must be a huge proportion of the overall shortfall that tax payers are being asked to stump up?

There is no guarantee on your dhs pension
A crash in the economy at point of retirement could wipe it out completely
You only have to look at what happened to pp in the aftermath of previous crashes

Public sector pensions are not affected in the same way

She needs to actually do something effective with the finances and stop basing decisions on ridiculous ideology. I do not consent to funding Labour's idiotic welfare ideas.

Again !

Oh good. If benefits go up by 4% we will get an extra £12 a month for DS1's DLA. Hurrah.

Now to talk about the £800 in VAT on school fees per month. Having a house in band G. etc etc etc.

Yeah which is why the risk is balanced over various investments. The issue is with public sector pensions. You’re paying for retirees now. You have no pot. The government can and will change it on a whim. You can all rest assured that by the time I retire, I’ll have no pot apart from my SIPP. As the system implodes on itself. What I do take umbrage to though is seeing posts about public sector workers bleating. There are quite a few on this thread. Some posters may want to remember that before joining in with Labour’s divisive rhetoric.

That’s shocking.

I spread my investments in my first two pensions over various areas. Across the three risky, not so risky and a dead cert

Didnt stop them dying a death during the last big crash from the US housing market affecting us too

Pension pot practically zero except for the tiny amount in China ( which actually was the risky one )

Like I say. I wouldn’t be getting that worked up about public sector pensions if I were you. There’s is no protection. They can and will be changed at any given whim. I fully expect not to get one. Many people my age, I fear will be left destitute when the system implodes. Protected they are not. Which is why anyone with any sense will be getting a private pension or leaving.

I'm pretty sure they won't implode in the way you're suggesting. They do need to change the scheme for younger workers though. And changes can't just be forced through, look at the McCloud remedy for proof of this.

But, as it stands, the public sector isn't the sector under attack by Labour. The public sector needs the private sector to keep going and fund growth. Attacking our pension contributions when we get so little as it is, compared to the public sector, is appalling.

If its accurate, its madness.

Its actually open warfare on the middle.

I don’t disagree with you. Maybe consider that before lumping all public sector workers in the same boat and suggesting they are bleating. There are a few of us on this thread. Leave the divisive rhetoric to Labour eh?

I didn't say all...many on MN do. 🤷‍♀️

Peace, guys.

We are on the same team.

Said with respect.

@Legolava i've often wondered about the future for public sector pensions

I don't know how well planned things are, in terms of whether that money will actually be in the pot, when the 30 something things get to 65, for example. So your sense is that it won't be there? That's interesting.

I'm not sure I would fit into the public sector at all, but there have been recent times when I've wondered about it partly because of the pension.

i'm genuinely shocked to hear about people swanning around on foreign trips while on benefits. I only know people who have been on unemployment benefit and that was a while back. Is it still the case that you have to report them when you're out of the country? That was the case for unemployment benefit in the past I thought

But I'm also confused about universal credit and whether it has now totally replaced everything or not

Does anyone have to do face-to-face regular reporting anymore or has that all gone?

I don’t think it will be no. The 29% contribution is crippling schools. We pay in between 7-10%. There is no pot with our name on it. We are currently funding all the pensioners who retired at 55 on final salary. It’s been changed once and it will change again. Like I think the state pension will be means tested. The public sector pension scheme is one big pyramid scheme. I think it will be my generation who pays the price. Many academies are giving financial incentives to opt out.

I would say the future is far from secure with PS pensions. England has the highest teacher attrition in the western world so it’s not keeping them in either!

The press will have a field day with this.

Oh God. Increasing taxes of foreign students to fund places for disadvantaged British students. They do realise don’t they, this could be the end for many struggling unis? Foreign students just won’t come. Unis rely on this money. There will be less for disadvantaged British youth. Like private schools have all but stopped outreach work now. They are really damaging education.

Friends in the NHS and police have retired. They know that the pension bubble will burst so jumped ship as soon as they could. Some have gone onto second jobs part time to keep their brains active.