Proposals to axe final salary schemes for civil servants and raise the retirement age from 60 to 65 have been met with anger from the unions.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) say that proposals to axe the final salary scheme and replace it with an average salary scheme will cause ‘great uncertainty, suspicion and anxiety amongst civil servants’.
If final salary schemes go, fat cats will be the losers as their salaries become averaged over their career.
Previously they had been afforded a chunk of their final salary as their retirement pension, a figure which is usually substantially more than average career earnings.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have also warned that they would ‘vigorously’ oppose raising the compulsory pension age from 60 to 65.
The union say that a hike in the pension age ‘cannot benefit working people nor create the type of society we want for the future.’
Commenting Mark Serwotka PCS general secretary said:
“It was only two years ago that the civil service pension scheme was changed. Yet now we have the government proposing more changes, laying out a set of fait acompli proposals that mean people will have to work longer to receive their pension. The radical move away from a final salary scheme allied with the pension age rise will only create uncertainty and deny people of choices about their future.”
Serwotka admitted that the union fears that hundreds of thousands of people could lose out if the reforms go ahead.
The union has warned of tough negotiations ahead and has not ruled out industrial action.
