To say - public sector workers pay tax

[woundedplacerias]

Sorry, that's it. It's a taat and I'm tired and have had but ffs - public sector workers and tax payers are not two discrete groups.

I know quite a lot of public sector colleagues who are struggling so much financially after years and years of zero pay increases that they have had to opt out of the so called gold plated pension schemes in order to afford to put food on the table. Or (in less desperate circs) to stand a chance of buying a house at today's over-inflated prices.

I've worked in both public and private sector jobs. The tax comment doesn't make sense because of course we're all tax payers but the point it's trying to make us valid - there us an astonishing waste of time and money in the public sector.

Way too many people doing very little in roles that no-one really understands, long paid sick leave for people who have no intention of coming back, old established jobs continuing because that's how it's always been done, when efficiencies would have been made years ago in the private sector.

80smum I used the term 'gold plated' and I was thinking of that in terms of a final salary pension scheme when I said that only older workers would have one as I thought that was what people meant when they talked about gold plated pensions.

Sorry if I have used the term incorrectly and it refers to all defined benefit pensions.

throwing I'm pregnant atm and hoping that my company aren't flexible with me. I've carved out a bit of a niche (working very enthusiasticallet in managing very grotty industrial property - most people hate it and prefer the shiny big ticket offices - yuck!) so I'm hoping that the thought of having to recruit someone who would take on my portfolio makes them think it's worth giving me a go being flexi. If they don't/it doesn't work, then I'm really excited about some of the PWL stuff that our local councils have been doing - buying up huge commercial properties that will need active management, so I can see opportunities coming up over the medium term. That would be a money-generating type role - best of both worlds! Satisfy my capitalist fat cat greed () whilst having a work life balance and saving 3 hours a day (and £4K a year) in commuting. No more bonus and a paycut but that would be life!

Hoping they ARE flexible with me!!

Icy you can pm me if you like, I work in commercial property for local authority!!

I have proved that we can work flexibly, if there is a big acquisition or whatever I just work late into the night around the kids. We get the odd arsy old git on the other side who grumbles about us being part time, but we usually turn our stuff around far faster than they do!!!

(And agree with enjoying the industrial property work; I find it fascinating)

Throwing I did wonder if you were property when you said you've a job generating £ for the local authority! There's not many other opportunities to make money. We've derailed the thread - sorry!!

Oops

PrettySophisticated
there us an astonishing waste of time and money in the public sector.

The same can be said for the private sector.

But one of the things that should be remembered about some of the public sectors is that they are not money based and should not be run like a business.

The private sector areas I've worked in don't waste like public sector does, efficiencies have gone too far if anything. And if there is waste, it's their money to waste, it hasn't come from taxpayers.

Public sector isn't there to make money, of course but it should be getting value for the money it receives (from taxpayers). In very many cases it isn't.

Defined benefit pension schemes don't only belong to the public sector. There's are thousands of employers who run DB schemes and the majority of these provide better benefits than LGPS, NHS, police etc

I've done everything - started in the private sector, moved to public sector, from there to a charity and now back to public sector. I'm well paid but earn probably a quarter of what I could get if I'd stuck with the private sector. I'm full-time (40-50 hours a week depending on how busy things are) but a lot of my team are part-time and / or work some of the time from home, and do it very effectively. I don't see a lot of waste and inefficiency where I am, unless you count not running staff into the ground as wasteful (in my private sector days the expectation was 80-hour working weeks).

Oh, and I'm on a defined contribution pension scheme: the defined benefit one that I was in when I last worked for the public sector is closed to new entrants. I could join the new DB scheme but the benefits are much less good, and I'd be absolutely clobbered in tax now for a very dubious possible benefit later. My DD is still small so I chose to have the money now.

I meant to add that the reason I do what I do instead of earning more money in a private firm is that the work is really interesting and my colleagues are brilliant. I might have found brilliant colleagues elsewhere, but the particular work I do doesn't exist in the private sector.

"There are thousands of employers who run DB schemes"

Not sure where you get this from! There USED to be many employers who ran DB schemes (usually the very large corporations).

However over the last 5-10 years, the situation has changed massively - fewer and fewer employers offer DB schemes and most SMEs have never done so. Vast majority of private company employees are in DC schemes.

Adnerb95 I'm a pension analyst specialising in DB scheme

80sMum public sector defined benefit pension schemes have all closed. The police one closed to new entrants in 2006.

You may well be, but I'd love to see the stats!

The old police pension scheme closed in 2006. The new police pension scheme opened in 2006 and was a DB scheme, the new CARE pension started in 2015

Polkadotties - name and shame praise these private sector DB pension schemes please! I want in!!

I'm sure my new LG pension is a DB scheme. It's not as good as it used to be - now based on average, rather than final salary but that's still DB?

My bank pension would still be DB if I was still there (and working much harder than I do now!) but closed to new entrants and no longer increasing with promotions for those who are still in.

To achieve a private pension at the same level as a 2/3rd public sector final salary scheme would entail paying half of your take home pay into a private pension.
The public sector employees are paying in, yes, but no where near what they get out.

I've worked on schemes for a whole range of companies, from big banks, sweet companies, pharmaceuticals, paintbrush makers, paper companies, breweries, supermarkets etc the list goes on.
Public sector pensions increase by CPI, which at the moment is quite low. A lot of private schemes have some elements of pension which will increase by flat rate 5%, RPI minimum 3%.

PrettySophisticated

Define "value for money" in a school or a hospital.