to ask if you agree with the teacher's strike upcoming

[AuntiePickleBottom]

i am on the fence about it, due to not understanding pensions.

What about the fact that you can buy a house through social housing "keyworker" schemes too. Another perk not available to the not so "key" workers in the private sector.

I never said that anyone can teach A level; you did!

cricketballs and twinklypearls I want to apologise to you both. If you are struggling to get on the housing ladder that must be a nightmare in itself given house prices. To clarify, I do think teachers get a reasonable wage for what they do however, the housing market in the UK is fucked, hence where an NQT used to be able to buy a house 15 years ago, that is no longer the case.

I am aware that you can buy a house though the keyworker scheme, I do not know a single teacher who has used the scheme. I do not live in a city though.

but without that scheme justonemorethan you wouldn't get any teachers working in the areas with high housing costs; what would be the point?

I agree that the housing market is a social evil.

A dip, not a massive cut, nothing compared to the slaughter of private sector pensions. To achieve the equivalent of 1/2 my current salary, not my final salary on current projections I would have to up my pension contribution to 24% of my salary on top of the 8% my employer pays, and as talkipeace says there is no guarantee of even that, it could be wiped out in a Market crash.

Most employers pay nothing like that amount and the majority of private sector workers have NO pension whatsoever.

As we have come to expect from this government it is a change that will affect women in particular.

keyworker scheme is dire
it was thought up by people who want to make money on property speculation, not to help key workers

as long as interest on business debt is tax deductible and interest on business (and private) savings is taxed, the economies of Britain, Europe, America and the rest of the world will never get out of the mess we are in

Well I have 4 as neighbours. That's how I know you can have a year off on full pay!
I admire that you keeping your end up twinklypearls. You seem like a decent teacher as you haven't lost your temper once with the mob on here!

thank you mdowdall; I do agree (especially in the area I live) I get a reasonable wage as the majority of jobs here are low paid, manual, shop work etc so my salary does feel in par with my qualifications. I do however have the issue with paying more, working longer and getting less than I signed up for. As I stated earlier, all this proposal is going to do is cost a fortune in sickness pay as the majority of teachers will not be capable of performing a full time teaching role in their 60s (I am struggling now before I hit 40!)

She's a teacher- used to keeping her cool when provoked.

I also know that I do not have the extra £83 a month that I will be asked for, I will have to withdraw from the pension scheme altogether.

I keep my temper for a living.

I think that is an important point cricket, this will end up costing a fortune in sick pay.

I would advise you to find that money from somewhere. Wish I had the option of paying just £83 extra a month for a reasonable standard of living instead of having to fond the extra hundreds I need.

Just saying it's another perk of the job.

I agree with trixymalixy
a defined benefit scheme will ALWAYS be a better investment than a defined contribution scheme for the next 15 years or so of projected investment returns (ie dire)

Sick pay - do Academies have to stick to national agreements on that or can they restrict periods and then force people out - like businesses do?

I already work a 15 hour day, when am I going to do a second job?

Sits back and waits for someone to suggest all my holidays.

I think more options should be given to the teachers so that they could choose to keep their contributions the same for less pension or a later retirement, or pay more to maintain their current benefits. I think what Hutton said today is very sensible too, drastic changes will force people to leave the pension schemes and that is not a good thing.

talkin - not sure about that; the terms and conditions have been a major concern for all unions regarding academies

I do think there is an issue with getting accurate information , which is why I changed union rather than strike.

According to the NUT pension calculator I am going to lose at least £162,000 of my pension - assuming 25 years of retirement. That is a loss of about £6,500 a year, I am not expecting a pension of £10,000 a year so am I only going to get a pension of £3K a year.

This whole thread is making me think of the phrase Lions led by donkeys where it comes to this strike. The unions are selling teachers down the river - striking just to try get one over on the Tories. Forgive the language but the union leaders are CUNTS, utter cunts. They know the situation with the country but dont give a shit.

Twinkly -
do you have a link to that calculator because 65% cuts in pensions were NOT part of the Hutton Review on which the Government's position is very tightly based
(I had to read it with my LGPS employer hat on !)