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Lancashire County Council defends £748m pension deficit (From Blackpool Citizen)
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Lancashire County Council defends £748m pension deficit
8:50pm Sunday 7th March 2010
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- By Peter Magill » Burnley chief reporter
COUNTY council bosses have defended their pensions record after it was revealed their scheme had a deficit of £748million.
An investigation by the Taxpayers' Alliance has shown that Lancashire’s shortfall, comparing assets to liabilities, is the third highest nationwide, behind Birmingham and Fife.
And while this 2008-09 position is a £26.6million improvement on the 2007-08 figures, the alliance says it shows that town hall pensions are becoming increasingly unsustainable.
An estimated £1 in every £5 paid by council tax payers goes towards the local government pension fund, according to the campaign group.
Reseachers from the alliance have said that, by 'sitting' on huge deficits, councils were storing up problems for the future.
But Gill Kilpatrick, the county’s finance director, said: “The value of assets in all pension schemes – public and private – has been affected by the fall in investment markets.
“We currently pay pensions using income from employees’ contributions and the investment income we receive, rather than by selling assets and we will be able to do so well into the future.
“It is unrealistic to judge the scheme only by the value of assets, which we know will change according to financial markets.”
Currently just over 15,000 council council staff are part of the pensions scheme and there are more than 53,000 contributors in total, from other related professions.
Official figures show 34,540 are drawing a pension and 38,199 members have deferred their pension entitlements.
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Your Say YourCitizen
pull some strings, ROSSENDALE says...
9:50am Mon 8 Mar 10
Whilst people in the private sector lose their jobs, take paycuts, really on personal pension plans, pay more and more stealth taxes, the public sector carry on ripping everyone off.
Time for a change.
Noiticer, Blackburn says...
10:14am Mon 8 Mar 10
Basically, it's Tory policy to get rid of final salary pensions. I wonder when MP's will get rid of their's? After you gentlemen!
And which political party voted against the minmum wage?
They will do anything to make life worse for ordinary working people.
Be warned, if you work in the public sector - don't vote Tory!
pull some strings, ROSSENDALE says...
2:14pm Mon 8 Mar 10
Yes, get rid of final salary pension schemes. Why? Because the amount put into the scheme is less than the amount that people take out!
If you can't understand that it is unsustainable you must be stupid.
Or, are you saying that all the other private sector employees have to pick up the tab for their Rolls Royce pension scheme by paying more tax?
Or, are you saying the public sector employees should pay the appropriate level of contribution to pay for the scheme? They currently pay about 6% of salary when it would need to be nearer to 20%?
I say vote anything but labour becasue he'll bottle a decision which means we'll all pay much more in the long run.
Noiticer, Blackburn says...
4:58pm Mon 8 Mar 10
Joseph Yossarian, London says...
5:15pm Mon 8 Mar 10
I will also freely admit that I think that it fair that I should fund my own retirement.
I will also admit that I think it is blatently unfair that in addition to paying for my retirement that I should have to subsidise the retirement of others.
Of course gordon hasn't got the balls to sort this out. Public sector workers are far more likely to vote labour. And turkeys don't vote for christmas, as they say.
Noiticer, Blackburn says...
10:09pm Mon 8 Mar 10
We live in a country that pays out hundreds of billions to fight dubious wars, loses billions on overspends at the Ministry of Defence, has more admirals than naval ships, loses millions on overspends on building roads - I could go on - but it can't afford to pay decent pensions to ordinary folk and has the widest gap between its wealthier citizens and its poorer citizens than in most European countries - more so now than ten years ago. Something has gone sadly wrong in the UK and its people seem to be oblivious to it all and have given up the will to change it. David and his millionnaire chums won't make it any better that's for sure - it wouldn't be in their interest too.
Pennine Lad, says...
6:24am Tue 9 Mar 10
One comment above suggests capping public sector pensions at £25k. In fact, most local government pensioners would be glad of even half that amount, as the average local government pension is only £4k a year.
pull some strings, ROSSENDALE says...
10:43am Tue 9 Mar 10
Get the bottler out so we can get on with repairing the damage he has reaped on this country.
Pennine Lad, says...
6:01pm Tue 9 Mar 10
pull some strings wrote:But "...the problems listed" above are myths and lies.
Seems the people above have forgotten that Labour have been in power for the last 10 years+ and have created the problems listed. Get the bottler out so we can get on with repairing the damage he has reaped on this country.
Kevin, Colne, Colne says...
7:34am Wed 10 Mar 10
The gap between rich and poor will continue to grow at an alarming rate. The rich will amass further wealth, the poor will get poorer and there's a fair chance that those in the middle will be anhilated unless they take decisive action to protect themselves from what's coming down the track.
The question is what can be done about this? And more to the point what will be done? As far as I can tell none of the political parties is addressing this problem other than at a superficial level.
It seems to me that to all intents and purposes we are on our own. Thankfully, this gives us true hope for as we have seen the political class and the state cannot and should not be trusted.
Folks need to get smart, and quickly. This does not require a high IQ. Normal brains will do just fine. What it does require is to see the reality of the situation and act accordingly.
Captain Kickoff, Burnley says...
11:44am Wed 10 Mar 10
It's not so much a question of who paid what in, I'd say it was more a question of why it appears to have been so poorly managed and why they have been 'sitting' on a huge deficit for so long without looking at why it's happened in the first place.
All the job cuts can't be helping either. The more redundancies you have, the worse it gets for the pot, as anyone who is over 52 (used to be 50) gets access to their pension and lump sum, therefore taking out a big chunk of money each time.
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brossen99, Ribble Valley says...
7:24am Mon 8 Mar 10