Roony,
This gets the majority on side, everything is out in the open and before you know it, your pension looks nothing like you were expecting. It’s sad, but it’s happening and it’s inevitable.
As I have said before on this forum on this subject - no, it is not inevitable.
I have spent many years in service of H M Queen and the country and not be lured into civvie street during the 'dizzy' years of the 90s and new millenium because I knew that I was destined for a decent pension.
Those that say that the Public Sector get paid just as well as the Private Sector - they a right, now there is a balance, but please do not forget the many many years where the Private Sector had bonus after bonus (and we are not talking a couple of hundred quid Christmas bonus).
So I have planned my career, my future, my retirement based upon the 'contract' that I signed with H M Queen and the Country nearly 20 years ago. Just because I have kept 'soldiering on' quietly doing my job and prepared to sacrifice my life for my country as I knew that my pension would look after my family - then please someone tell me why it is inevitable that just because H M Govt and their associated PFI (e.g. Xafinity) have incorrectly managed the nations economy and pension funds, then why should I (and potentially my family) suffer.
This is so wrong - and I really do wonder does this whole H M Govt 'world saving' bail out have any coherence and are the Polticians fully aware of what their knee jerk reactions are doing to those Public Servants that have loyally done exactly that - 'serve the public' and not taken the quick buck with avarice option.
How on earth does H M Govt really believe that it is going to recruit and retain high quality Public Servants when the Private Sector picks up and starts to offer them more lucrative terms and conditions. Lerts get this straight, I have many a Private Sector financier that doesn't give two hoots about Pension Schemes going wrong as his bonuses over a 8 year period have all been invested in country estates and overseas property that he is more than willing to sit on and 'ride out the storm'.
I didn't get such bonuses and therefore call me old fashioned, I rely on the covenant that I had with HM Queen and the country that I would be paid a fair pension for remaining loyal to the Crown.
Now what I would really like to see is H M Govt do a complete review of all Public Servants - no fannying around or hiding behind a quango/pseudo Politcial Correctness. If HM Govt really needs to save money and it is putting Crown Servants on review, then lets do it.
Do we really need all of the Council and H M Govt positions that due to their PC and ED lable have bottomless funds as H M Govt can show that it is diverse. Lets make it clear, if these departments and positions actually add something to society, then I am all for it. But just to make a HM Govt more politically correct for a small minority then this has to stop.
Again, with immigration - how much, who adds value, who really needs asylum - and I 100% support genuine requirements or those that add to a community. But how much has and is being spent/wasted?
Same goes for those that are sponging off the state - I am still shocked at the recent Prezza documentary where a 19 year old single mother genuinely believed that she was middle class because she did not have to work.
My point is that before H M Govt goes for the quick win of reviewing my pension it needs to man up and have some moral courage to sort out the areas in its back yard that are (and having been) losing/wasting far more money than the Public Sector pensions ever will.