Pension pots and public payments

From: Chris Giddings, Springwood Drive, Copley Lane, Halifax.

JOHN Cafferty’s article (Yorkshire Post, May 11) on behalf of Unison fails to make one significant point: he does not mention why so many private sector schemes have closed.

His thoughts should take him back to 1997 and one Gordon Brown who as Chancellor, at a stroke made impossible annual tax demands on private pension funds.

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The millions he raked into the Government coffers and subsequently squandered, destroyed pensions and in turn the confidence of people to save for their future old age. That is also one of the reasons why so many people are not making provision for their retirement.

If it is a fact that public sector pension schemes are financially sound, then why are council taxpayers continuing to pay much of what is collected into these funds?

No one wishes to deny a pension to anyone who has earned it but the current unaffordability is one of the main reasons why the Government is having to take its present course. Index Linked schemes should be available to all, not a select few, but common sense tells us that people cannot afford to pay for such a luxury and nor can taxpayers.

From: P Bennett, Sheffield.

I READ the article by Unision’s John Cafferty, and just had to write a response.

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A friend of mine is a GP who has just taken early retirement at 55 after 28 years service to the NHS. His pension after taking a tax free lump sum is £38,000 per year and is index linked for inflation.

Perhaps Mr Cafferty can explain how his “six to eight per cent” contribution adds up to a pension of such a size?

Even if one takes today’s average salary of a GP of around £100,000 per year, an eight per cent contribution is £8,000 which adds up to £224,000 in today’s money for 28 years service (it would obviously be a lot less than this looking at a GP’s salary from 28 years ago) would only fund a pension at 55 of around £10,000 per year. Where has the difference come from?

Simple, the hard pressed taxpayers, a lot of whom can only dream of a pension like that at 65 never mind 55!

From: John Elston, Walkington, Beverley.

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WHILE I would not expect a totally unbiased view from John Cafferty, I would expect him to explain what the myths are regarding public pensions.

Like other interested parties, examples for public pensions are given at the low end of the scale and at the same time give examples at the dramatic high end of the private pensions i.e. bankers etc.

What I want to hear is for someone to receive a pension of the average £4,000 that individual would have built up a pot of about £80,000.

How do they manage that? The majority comes from the public purse. For that sum to provide an indexed linked private pension it would not be worth having, where does the money come from to guarantee index proofing?

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I wish politicians and union officials could tell it as it is and cease being in denial about the mess we are in.

Worthwhile education

From: Mrs P Kellett, Knaresborough.

HOW I agree with Miss Mary Lister’s letter (Yorkshire Post, May 10). It was masterly.

My two eldest daughters attended Manor Road school when Miss Lister was head and the younger one is now head of an academy in Bradford.

I also have four grand daughters who are also teachers and so I get a lot of feedback about the amount of time spent on paper work with not enough time to get to know their children and their individual needs.

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There must be hundreds of teachers and ex-teachers who wish that Ofsted inspectors would look back at education as it was in Sir Alec Clegg’s time and take note of a lot of things that happened in those times.

Investment needed

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

THOUGH I’m a socialist, I agree with those critics of the Government who say there are more important things to deal with than gay marriage and reform of the House of Lords.

To me the absolute priority is job creation, rather than the continuence of schemes which only make work for those who run them. And, I find it sad that the proposed High Speed Rail link might be pushed back thanks to the NIMBY Home Counties lobby obsessed with the price of housing. For we need such investment if the economy is to grow.

From: TM Driffield, Thirsk.

WHAT a surprise Germany has achieved a large jump in economic growth. The Germans realise that if they can keep the euro weak, it means that their exports can undermine any attempt by our, or any other foreign, business to win orders against them. They can be undercut. This gives them an enormous advantage in any deals. To continue with this, they must undermine growth anywhere else in the EU via the austerity package that they say cannot be renegotiated. The euro funny money that they give to some other euro states is no more than part of a strategy to give German business a huge economic advantage. It is win, win, for the Germans.

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