Public Sector Pensions

**expat** · 26 February 2009, 14:53

Originally posted by Mich the Tester View Post

It’s all very well to moan about ‘public sector pensions’ but among the pen pushers, bureaucrats, quango-rodents and clipboard jobsworths you’ll also find retired firemen who’ve put their lives on the line to save others, policemen who’ve had to confront gangsters and terrorists (like my grandfather who died after one week’s pension, but my granny needed something to live on), scientists who’ve done great work in our universities, ambulance paramedics who’ve tried to resuscitate people in the middle of terror attacks, air and sea rescue crews who’ve slid down a rope from a helicopter onto a burning or sinking ship to save lives, and I’m sure many other people who do important and even heroic work without ever getting or seeking publicity or huge failure bonusses.

Is it really fair to generalise so much about ‘public sector pensions’?

Doesn't my mum deserve a pension, seeing as she turned down a great career in accountacy and tax law, where she'd have earned a hell of a lot of money, to do what she loves, which is teaching young people?

Of course she does. And anyway, it was part of the deal. I do not renegue on a deal, and I don't believe that our government has a moral right to renegue, even if grasping immoral voters might want them to.

**BrowneIssue** · 26 February 2009, 14:55

Except postmen, of course. They're still thieving, lazy rude toerags that deserve nothing.

**Cyberman** · 26 February 2009, 15:12

I don't see why anybody should be allowed to draw a pension at 45 unless they have some sort of disability. Firemen and policemen getting early pensions when they may well live to be 100, and have not made anything like the financial contributions necessary to pay for that pension is quite obviously crazy.
Pensions must relate to the contributions of the individual in order to retain some fairness in society. Unfortunately, that is not the case at the moment and we are putting unfair burdens on the taxpayers of the future that eventually they will rebel against.

**Bagpuss** · 26 February 2009, 15:17

Those bloody Firemen, if only they were as productive a member of society as you!

**Mich the Tester** · 26 February 2009, 15:19

Originally posted by Bagpuss View Post

Those bloody Firemen, if only they were as productive a member of society as you!

Indeed. People who climb into burning buildings don’t often live to be 100 because their lungs are f**ked and their backs are knackered from climbing down ladders with fat people on their shoulders. These are people who physically cannot work much longer once they’re in their 40s; they’ve given up their youth and health and risked their lives to save other people, and in any civilised society they’ll be looked after regardless of their ‘financial contribution’.

**crimdon** · 26 February 2009, 15:20

Originally posted by Cyberman View Post

I don't see why anybody should be allowed to draw a pension at 45 unless they have some sort of disability. Firemen and policemen getting early pensions when they may well live to be 100, and have not made anything like the financial contributions necessary to pay for that pension is quite obviously crazy.
Pensions must relate to the contributions of the individual in order to retain some fairness in society. Unfortunately, that is not the case at the moment and we are putting unfair burdens on the taxpayers of the future that eventually they will rebel against.

It was my understanding that to have a full police pension, you needed to have 30 years service. Also heard that most of the new contracts don't allow you to draw your pension early.

**expat** · 26 February 2009, 15:22

In the public service in particular, pension provision is often part of the remuneration. It is not a case that a public servant should have to fund their pension out of their income, rather that the pension is part of their income.

And to make that deal, and later try to modify it, would just be theft. I'm not a thief, Cyberman, so the government may not do that in my name. I don't care if anyone thinks the deal was too generous in retrospect (I don't), it was a deal.

**cailin maith** · 26 February 2009, 15:25

Firemen don't get paid enough anyway, so if they do get a pension from age 45 or whatever, although my friends husband is retiring from the Fire Service this year and he is 52, so bloody what. They deserve it.

**DimPrawn** · 26 February 2009, 15:27

What next, you going to be saying "hard working families" and "fairness" in every post.

Yes, about 10% of Public Sector workers , ie those doing useful front-line jobs deserve a competitive salary and pension. The other 90% mind....

Public Sector Pensions