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Proposed Pension Cuts

3 UK Debt Government says; The UK debt is the worst in living memory We must all make sacrifices to get the debt paid off George Osbourne says; We are all in this together Do you see George and other MP’s leading the way with sacrifices?

4 UK Debt It doesn’t get any worse than that does it

5 UK Debt The previous graph was is a small section taken from the one below but the government and some newspapers like to use it to justify the public sector cuts the government announced BEFORE the Hutton review had been completed. Or does it?

6 for your pay being frozen for at least 2 years despite inflation running at over 5% for the last 2 years. That’s a £3k devaluation in wages for a FF so far! why you must work longer, pay more and get less pension entitlement The only reason is political spin; to be seen to be cutting public spending UK Debt is NOT the reason;

7 Work longer, pay more and get less Pension up rating mechanism changed from RPI to CPI Contributions to rise from By 2014 a FF will pay £350 per month Both existing pension schemes end in 2015 and a new one introduced for everyone which includes; Min. age to receive full pension will be 60 for all Career average scheme not final salary Regularly rising contribution rates as pension scheme changes to “Cap n Share” You can’t deny, it’s an attractive proposition! Pension Cuts

8 This change has already happened as it was introduced in the 2011 budget. Pensions are devaluing as a result of this imposition as CPI does not keep up RPI. This change will decrease the maximum commutation sum for a FF by approximately £10k. The FBU and some other public sector unions are challenging this legally. The case is scheduled to go to court in October. RPI to CPI April 2011

9 No public service workers pay more in contributions than the 11% FF’s already pay into the FPS Government wants a 3.2% rise for all* public services. This would take a FF’s contributions to 14% (£351pm), 11.7% for NFPS (£292pm), whilst many other public sector workers would still pay less than 8% Phased contributions; FF 14.2% up to AM’s who will pay 17% Rise in contributions From 2012

10 Minimum Retirement age 60 Proposed new pension scheme The table below shows the VO2 Max values for age and sex

11 Current VO 2 Max pass mark is 42 Few men will be able to reach the VO 2 Max above age 55 Virtually no women will be able to reach the VO 2 Max above age 55 This will not be covered under ill health retirement Those who cannot reach the fitness standard will be sacked under capability as there are simply not enough non operation roles available to redeploy all these members Minimum Retirement age 60 Proposed new pension scheme

12 Anyone who joined the fire service after age 20 will not be able to accrue a full pension entitlement by age 60. Many will have to work much longer to avoid a poverty stricken retirement, although ironically, their retirement will be far shorter as a result. Minimum Retirement age 60 Proposed new pension scheme

13 Promotion leads to loss of pension as well as even higher rises in contributions up to an initial rate of 17% Up rating mechanism for average salary indexing will be CPI not RPI which means the pension you finally receive will be vastly devalued from a final salary equivalent. End to final salary scheme Proposed new pension scheme

14 This means that the employers percentage of contribution to the pensions are frozen whilst the employees contributions rise at regular intervals There will come a time when members of the scheme pay a higher contribution rate than the employers Cap n’ Share Proposed new pension scheme

15 Fire Fighters are a special case Private sector workers average around 5.2%

16 The FPS was reviewed and reformed in 2006 The NFPS was introduced for new joining members in 2006 The rest of the public sector cannot claim the same and as such we should be exempt from further changes as we’ve already modernised It is highly likely we can force the government to rethink this second round of cuts for FF’s but it will take more than words to do so.... Fire Fighters are a special case

17 The government has concluded consultation with the TUC on its proposed public sector pension cuts. It will now start 3 months of union specific consultation. We must show the government we are not prepared to roll over before they make the statutory changes to the pension schemes after the consultation period ends. We must all support the model resolution. The time to fight back has arrived. Consultation & Action

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