to be completely confused about the strike on 30th Nov?

[seekinginspiration]

So far I've heard completely contradictory statements on the radio, tv and from individuals. A friend has been told that teachers need to work until they are 68 years old - even if the job is very physically hard work e.g. reception class? She's only just over 50 - so up till last year thought she would be able to retire at 60. What is the truth?

Niceguy, I think there are more physically demanding jobs which should lead to early retirement - nurses and policemen being among them.

NB: The following paragraph is not a gripe, it's just listing a few requirements of the job!

Primary teachers are on their feet all day in front of the class and often work through much of their lunch breaks with clubs, etc. They also have to communicate (in a lively and exciting fashion) with children ALL day and put on a smiling face with the parents.

I should think all teachers have days when they don't feel like being lively and exciting with a horde of boisterous 5-year-olds, and just want to relax in a darkened room. I would imagine these days become more frequent as you get older!

It is different to sitting in front of a pc in an office all day. I could easily cope with that at 66.

The employee contributions made currently are minimal compared to the hugh deficit the scheme runs at (esp longterm).

"In 2010-11, £18 billion is projected to come from taxpayers (£13.5 billion of employer contributions and £4.5 billion from the Treasury) and £7.5 billion from employees in these (public sector pension) schemes. "

above is from page 79 of Public-Sector-Pensions-Commission-Report:

www.public-sector-pensions-commission.org.uk/wp-content/themes/pspc/images/Public-Sector-Pensions-Commission-Report.pdf

So the payments by employees are not great (in comparison to the employer contribution). If people decide to opt out the hospital/school etc where they work do not have to pay in the employer contribution.

For example teacher employee contribution is 6.4% and employer (school) is 14.1%.
For NHS employee contribution is 5-8% and employer (eg hospital) is 14%). So these establishments would actually benefit.

So oddly what may happen is at the local level the school or hospital would actually have a bit more to spend but the treasury would then have to supplement their outgoing to retirees abit more (this money would come from cuts to other services or have to be borrowed). It is all very odd (the government pays money eg to schools/hospitals to pay for teachers/nurses/doctors then the school/hospital pays back some of the money in employer contributions towards the teacher/nurse/doctor pensions). Long term these schemes are very generous the country would save money if people opted out (and as I previously mentioned underfunded by an estimated £770 billion to £1,137 billion).

I would really hope an arrangement was made where schemes were still generous to keep people in them. I think a way to do this is to up transparency of the system so people realise what they gain. Large schemes should have the potential to be more generous than smaller ones as reduced management costs (bulk buy equivalent!).

Pensions in their current form were invented in around 1910 - when life expectancy equalled the retirement age of 65

as employment rights and union backed pension legislation strengthened through the 1960's and 1970's pensions turned into more and more of a Ponzi scheme

during the 1980's inflation was so high that most schemes took Employer Contribution holidays (their surpluses were so big)
but then in the 1990's Chancellor Broon abolished ACT credit and then allowed FRS17 to take effect

so the schemes had to finally work out how much they had to take IN to pay OUT what the pensioners were entitled to

and the size of the abyss became clear.

The private sector - who get sacked if they cock up - moved rapidly to make their schemes affordable (to the employer at least)

Broon and Dahling encouraged the public sector to keep its head in the sand even through 2009
but the excrement has interacted with the ventilation device

those ex public sector workers on their 40% tax pensions are an anomaly that we will all pay for but never replicate.
Sorry folks.

There's nothing confusing about 2 million reported strikers taking action tomorrow.
That's 2 million days pay the govt will save while the public have to fork out millions and millions in childcare.