pensions!!!panic!!

[linconlass]

i work in public sector- justhad pay freeze and any incerments have been below inflation for yasr.We are strugglling as both dh and I work in this area.
We pay, monthy , approx £50 each,from wages ,into a pension scheme which is run by our employer - the county council.
Im v worried that the powers that be can take this pension off us - in which case we cant keep paying £ 100 for somwthing we will not recieve.Does any one have any info - please!!

As I understand it, the Local Government pension schemes (is it the LGFS you pay into?), are fully funded and not subject to reform like public sector taxpayer funded pension schemes such as the Teachers Pension scheme (mine) and the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (dh's).

Check with your finance office and the LGFS - you should have the paperwork somewhere?

Lincon - you would not continue to pay the £100 if the pension has stopped. What money you had in the pension would be protected and could be transferred elsewhere into a private pension I presume. But the benefits you got from the pension scheme would go - such as final salary pension etc.

I thought it was all public sector pensions that were at risk - but really I have no idea.

It does seem wrong that existing public sector pensions will be hit. I do think that any new entrants into the public sector should not be offered the pension schemes though.

Lincoln, if your employer is the County Council, then you should be members of the LGPS. This is a final salary scheme and any benefits you have earned so far are fully protected. As long as you have more than two years membership, you will have a pension from the LGPS when you retire and it can't be taken away from you. Don't panic and keep paying your contributions in to probably one of the better pension schemes in the UK.

Thanks everyone- its just that i - like lots of us- work really hard in my job - i give it 100%- but have been starting to panic and get potentialy disolusioned with all the cuts and no pay increase followed by pay cut, and thought of pension paid into loss on top was making us feel vulnerable- appriciate lots of us do at mo of course ...

esp vulnerable as a hundred plus soc workers made redundant today !!