Serious discussion on pensions on the eve of Conference

In anticipation of tomorrow's vital debate on the Local Government Pension Scheme at UNISON's Local Government Service Group Conference, I ought to acknowledge some positive progress in the fair presentation of data.



Whilst other bloggers are wasting their time with wild sectarian rants (http://unisonactive.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/new-lgps-20214-and-old-miserablists.html?m=1) serious activists are looking in detail at the proposals before us, and are welcoming the more accurate data published today on the UNISON website (http://www.unison.org.uk/pensions/lgps.asp).



These appear to replace the misleading and unacceptable "examples" document about which I had blogged before - and concerning which several UNISON branches had submitted critical Emergency Motions which are likely to be admitted to the agenda as Emergency Composite 3.



One set of calculations are based upon the, still relatively pessimistic assumption that, in the long term, average earnings and pay will increase by only 1.5%p.a. more than the Consumer Price Index (http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/PensionsCalculator40yearsRevalued.xlsx) and another set of calculations reflect the assumption made by the Government Actuaries Department - that pay and earnings will in the long run exceed CPI inflation by an average annual amount of 2.25% (http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/PensionsTreasury40yearsRevalued.xlsx).



Although these figures deal only with the amounts people will receive at their normal retirement age and therefore do not address the capitulation to the Government's "work longer" agenda, and although they also fail to deal with the impact on the future value of our pensions of our conceding to the uprating of pensions in payment in line with the CPI rather the Retail Price Index (RPI), they are a far more honest presentation that that offered in the "examples" document.



This is a positive response to valid criticism.

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