Pensions Robbery – the future for public services?
The Barnet Group, where our branch members in Barnet Homes and Your Choice Barnet are, is hoping for the go-ahead from Councillors 14th October to launch a new company with the specific intention of getting out of the Local Government Pension Scheme. We are concerned if this goes through it will set a precedent for the rest of the Council to follow. We are hoping that the Councillors also refer this decision to Full Council for a proper debate on whether a race to the bottom with workers’ terms and conditions is really the best way to deal with recruitment and retention issues??
Extract from Barnet UNISON report:
The central attraction in setting up TBG TCTC is in order to avoid the Local Government Pension Scheme. As stated in 2.3.2:
“Being restrained by offering the same benefits as the Council is considerably more expensive for the business, especially the cost of the LGPS.”
And 2.3.7:
“A further benefit in establishing a separate Trading Company is that it will limit the risk of the pension deficit. This means there will be no risk of it increasing further and therefore the liability to the Council will not increase over time.”
To view our report click here