ATL

Government's public sector pension plans shown up as political ideology - ATL

The government's plans for the pensions of teachers and lecturers, and other public sector pensions, are revealed by the Public Accounts Committee to be driven by political ideology and not economic necessity, says the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

Commenting on the Public Accounts Committee's report into changes to public sector pensions, Dr Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary, said:

"The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has shown the government's plan for fundamental changes to teachers and lecturers pensions for the political ideology it is. As we have said all along, the facts do not back up what the government wants to do.

"The PAC report clearly shows that the cost of public sector pensions is not spiralling out of control, as the government claimed. The truth is that the costs are stabilising following changes made in 2007 which will reduce the costs to taxpayers by £67 billion over the next 50 years.

"The government has failed to produce any evidence to show whether savings of £67 billion are adequate because it has not calculated what the country can afford. This failure shows only too clearly that the government has been negotiating in a vacuum. It keeps telling us that pensions are too expensive but won't tell us what it can afford.

"Yet again the government has been shown to be incapable or unwilling to do any joined-up thinking. Its pension proposals have failed to take account of the number of people likely to work in the public service in the future, it has not calculated the effect on other means-tested benefits of its pension plans, and it has not carried out any analysis of potential recruitment and retention problems for public sector jobs if these severe cuts to pensions are implemented.

"We share the Committee's concerns that the changes will make pensions so complex, with some teachers potentially in five different schemes, that teachers and lecturers will have no idea what their retirement income will be.

"ATL is perfectly willing to negotiate pension changes with the government, but we need the full facts to be able to do so and so far the government has refused to provide them.

"I, and my members, share the PAC's frustration. We have not sought a confrontation with the government. But if the government continues to doggedly stick to its plans without producing any evidence to back them up we cannot resolve the current impasse."

Notes to editors

1. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is an independent, registered trade union and professional association, representing approximately 160,000 teachers, headteachers, lecturers and support staff in maintained and independent nurseries, schools, sixth form, tertiary and further education colleges in the United Kingdom.

2. ATL exists to help members, as their careers develop, through first rate research, advice, information and legal advice.

3. ATL is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) and Education International (EI). ATL is not affiliated to any political party and seeks to work constructively with all the main political parties.