NHS PENSION CAMPAIGN

UNISON has held a series of meetings across the North West in their campaign to defend NHS workers’ pensions.  Thousands of NHS employees have attended the meetings and expressed their anger at ministers’ proposals which mean they will be required to pay more, work longer and get less.

UNISON members cover a wide range of NHS roles including nurses, technical staff, porters, domestics, ambulance staff, professional groups, and administrative staff meaning that dedicated workers dealing with the sick and vulnerable in society will see their pensions reduced dramatically.

In 2008 UNISON negotiated a new, secure, affordable scheme - its implementation is still under way, with the current NHS ‘choice’ exercise giving some NHS workers options to opt in or remain in the old scheme with an earlier retirement age.  The proposed new plans will override this exercise, ignoring the element of ‘choice’ and resulting in almost every member of staff having to work longer, pay more and get less.

UNISON members working for the NHS are outraged by this.  Not only have they endured a 2 year pay freeze they will now be expected to pay increased amounts of £200 to £900 each year into their pension.  Further to this they will have to work longer and when they finally do receive their pension it will be considerably less.

Paul Foley, UNISON North West Regional lead for Health stated:- "UNISON members are giving a clear message to ministers that enough is enough.  It is simply not fair that they should have to carry the burden of paying for the banking crisis, a crisis they did not cause.  At each meeting our members have shown solid support for UNISON’s campaign and we are determined to deliver a big YES vote and show solidarity to all involved in the strike on 30 November."

The union has given the go-ahead to Electoral Reform Service to begin posting ballot papers out to 1.1 million members.  The union is urging members to vote yes and join the public service strike on November 30.   Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:- "I have given the go-ahead for ballot papers to be sent to 1.1 million members, over government ministers’ plans to make detrimental changes to public sector pensions.  I am urging UNISON members to stand up for their pension rights and vote Yes for strike action, in the biggest ballot in UK history.  All along, we have been hoping for the best, but planning for the worst.  And the worst is happening.  Eight months of talks have got nowhere, government ministers are just not listening.   We know our members will not take this decision lightly, they dedicate their entire lives to caring for other people.  But they have been pushed too far.   Government ministers want to save £4bn from public sector pensions.  And they want our members to make up that money by paying more and working longer for a pension that will be worth less.  This is not fair, and it is not necessary.  Both the local government and the health scheme our members save into are cash rich and financially sound, they don’t need this drastic change.  It is nothing more than a tax on public sector workers, to help pay down the country’s deficit, that they did nothing to cause."

Key facts on pensions:-

►  Both the local government and the NHS pensions schemes were renegotiated a few years’ ago to deal with people living longer – these reforms mean the cost of pensions is already falling. 

►  Both the NHS and local government schemes are sustainable and affordable.  They are cash rich with income far exceeding outgoings - £2bn in the case of the NHS scheme. 

►  The local government scheme has funds worth £140billion – making it one of the biggest institutional investors in the world, equivalent to 12% of UK GDP.  It has enough money to pay all its liabilities for the next 20 years without raising a single penny. 

►  Public sector pensions are not gold-plated.  In local government, the average pension is £4,000pa – dropping to just £2,800 for women – less than £60 a week.  And for women in the NHS it is £3,500, with an average of £7,000 - higher because of doctors and consultants. 

BROKEN BENEFITS CONTRACTS AND 20,000 REDUNDANCIES WILL WASTE MILLIONS

MILLIONS of pounds will be wasted in compensation if Government plans to centralise Housing Benefit force local authorities into cancelling private contracts and axing staff.  The warning comes from UNISON following the results of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, which revealed that 21% of Housing Benefit services are currently provided under private contracts or shared service arrangements with other authorities, and a further 8% of councils are in the process of tendering new contracts.

The move to merge 6 benefits under a new, centrally run, Universal Credit will lead to local staff offering face to face being replaced by call centres and online forms.

Many of the private contracts will still be in place when Universal Credit is due to be introduced in October 2013, so councils will be left paying around £50 million a year in contracts for a service they no longer provide.

On top of this, 98% of councils have merged revenues and benefits systems, including Council Tax collection and Council Tax Benefit, so splitting off the Housing Benefit will lead to a loss of economies of scale and additional knock-on costs.

The UK’s largest union is also predicting that up to 20,000 housing benefit administration jobs stand at risk of being axed in England, Scotland and Wales.  There is no provision in the Welfare Bill for these staff to transfer from councils to the Department for Work and Pensions, so local authorities could be left picking up a £150 million redundancy bill.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:- "Many families are struggling to make ends meet and more children are living in poverty.  Losing the help and advice of local benefits’ experts under the new Universal Credit, will hit the six million poorest people hard.  In addition, many councils have long-term housing benefit contracts with companies such as Capita.  These companies will want millions in exit costs when their contracts are cancelled early and a huge number of jobs will be axed.  The Bill could lead to up to 20,000 more workers being consigned to the dole queues and ending up having to use the new Universal Credit themselves.  If the service is moved centrally, claimants will lose all the one to one expertise of local face-to-face support.  There will be real equality challenges for those with disabilities, or claimants who do not have access to online resources.  This is on top of councils picking up a £150 million tab for redundancy costs.  Local Authorities must continue to have a role helping with housing costs under the new Universal Credit to deliver the best quality, efficient service and ensure families do not suffer."

Kick off for a great day out!

MERSEYTRAVEL and Merseyrail will hold a ‘Footie Focus’ family fun day and football match on Sunday, 23 October 2011, at PLAYfootball, Drummond Road, Crosby L23 9YP.  The event will raise money for their respective corporate charities, Clatterbridge your cancer centre and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and support the National Family Learning Festival.

The National Family Learning Festival is the biggest annual celebration of family learning in the UK with organisations across the country holding thousands of activities to bring families together for fun and informal learning.

The event is open to all, with a chance to join in the family fun activities and opportunities to develop skills on and off the pitch, including improving your football skills and entering the ‘cross bar challenge’.  There are also competitions and quizzes with prizes to be won by producing a match report, collecting the game stats and completing the programme quiz, plus a charity raffle and tombola.

Neil Scales, Merseytravel Chief Executive said:- "Merseytravel has a strong commitment to education with our award winning learning initiative, Merseylearn and a strong tradition of staff involvement in sport, so this is a great way of combining the 2."

Bart Schmeink, Merseyrail's Managing Director said:- "Merseyrail is an important part of community life in Merseyside and so is football.  This "Footie Focus" day gives people an opportunity to help to raise funds for our respective charities, have fun whilst doing it and also sharpen their football skills.  Who knows, we might even discover the next Wayne Rooney or Jamie Carragher."

Kick-off is at 1.00pm with pre match activities from 12.30pm.