20.12.11
Health unions consider final pension deals
Health unions, unlike their counterparts covering the civil service and teaching professions, seem prepared to sign up to a new deal on pensions reform following Government concessions on accrual rates and other technical details.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander is expected to set out progress in resolving the public sector pension dispute in Parliament later today.
Most unions have agreed to consider outline deals for pension reform, and will now take the final offers back to their members for discussion and balloting. However, some are unhappy with the limited concessions provided by Government.
The proposals include increasing pension contributions, pegging the public sector pension age to the state pension age and switching people from final salary schemes to career average schemes.
The Government has made concessions to improve accrual rates, and allow staff in areas transferred out of the public sector to retain the right to stay in the pension scheme. Additionally, health workers earning between £15,000 and £26,557 would be spared any rise in pension contributions next year, as would those who are less than 10 years away from retirement.
Dean Royles, the director of the NHS Employers organisation, called the progress a “significant step forward”.
He said: “Employers want a sustainable pension scheme that continues to be competitive and attractive for existing staff and new joiners. To that end, we will continue to work with government and trade unions for the benefit of patients. We hope we can secure final agreement quickly.”
However, Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of BMA Council, expressed disappointment that the Government did not accept that the current NHS pension scheme was “already fair to both staff and taxpayers”.
Meldrum continued: “We will now seek our members’ views on the offer, and – if they consider it unacceptable – on what action they would be prepared to take. It is crucial that all doctors and medical students tell us their views. It’s their future, their pension, and we want them to have their say.”
Jon Skewes, director of employment relations and development at the RCM, added: “We still have a lot of detail to work out and we are bitterly disappointed that there has been no movement from the Government on the link to state pension age.
“The RCM remains concerned that midwives will not be able to meet the physical and mental demands of their profession when they are nearly 70 years old. We have secured a review to address the impact of working longer in the NHS with particular reference to frontline staff in physically demanding roles.”
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