Local Government
The pensions pirouetteWORKERS, FEB 2007 ISSUE
The pirouettes between the Local Government Pension Scheme employers, the trade unions and the government are beautifully choreographed as the draft regulations are laid, negotiations stagger on, sabres are rattled and members shake their heads in disbelief.
The draft regulations were laid in Parliament on 22 December. New and previously undiscussed changes were introduced to the regulations affecting part time workers, redundancy and ill health.
The significant improvements in the revised scheme are being belittled in favour of an all-or-nothing strategy over supposed protections of the 1997 regulations on early retirement.
The limited protection of the "85 year rule", which has benefited fewer than 20 people – mainly men – over the past 10 years, according to one London borough, is the rallying cry for those who want to reject the scheme.
Each time the employers and trade unions near agreement the government rolls another wrecking amendment into the equation. So negotiations continue with early February being the point where the possible move to industrial action ballots will be arrived at.