[Your address and phone
number]
[the date]
To: [ Your local] MSP
Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh EH99 1SP
Dear Mr/Ms [your local/regional] MSP-,
JUSTICE FOR LGPS MEMBERS
As one of your constituents I am writing to ask for your urgent
help in securing justice for members of the Local Government Pension
Scheme (LGPS) in Scotland.
As you may know negotiations have been taking place over the
future of the LGPS, alongside separate talks through the Public
Services Forum (PSF) with Alan Johnston, Secretary of State at
the DTI, over the other public sector pension schemes. On 18 October
the PSF reached an agreement, endorsed by the Cabinet, on the
future of the NHS, civil service and teachers pension schemes
which included life-time protection of existing scheme benefits
and pensions age for existing members.
However in the negotiations on the LGPS, members are facing detrimental
proposals for the reform of their pension. These include the removal
of the 85 Rule and no protection for existing scheme members.
Although these LGPS negotiations technically only affect the
scheme in England and Wales at this stage, Tom McCabe MSP, the
Scottish Executive Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform,
has stated that he will remove the rule of 85 from the LGPS in
Scotland. Mr McCabe, following a similar decision taken by the
UK Government in respect of the LGPS in England and Wales, has
decided that retaining the rule would be incompatible with a forthcoming
EU Directive on Age Discrimination.
However both UNISON and CoSLA believe that the rule of 85 does
not conflict with the EU Directive and have legal opinion to confirm
this. This view was further strengthened when Katharina von Schnurbein,
the EU's spokeswoman on employment, social affairs and equal opportunities,
said the Scottish Executive was wrong. She cited Article 6 of
the directive, which states that governments can treat people
differently on the grounds of age in certain circumstances.
Von Schnurbein added: "It's an artificial debate [and one that]
is only going on in Britain. The directive has no influence on
pension value or pension age. It is completely up to the member
state. If they think it is reasonable for people to retire at
60, under EU law that is perfectly legal."
The abolition of the rule of 85 cannot and should not be allowed
to happen. Local government, police support staff, some Scottish
NDPBs, HE and FE support staff and those in community and voluntary
sector jobs covered by the LGPS are increasingly being asked to
work in joined up service delivery arrangements. Low paid LGPS
members, such as cleaners, janitors and classroom assistants in
schools work alongside teachers. They will be required to work
10 years longer than teachers if the government's proposals are
allowed to proceed. Joint initiatives across health and local
government would see current inequalities in pay and access to
career development made even worse by pension differences.
It is vital that we secure an agreement for equal treatment for
LGPS members. If not, there will be demoralisation and anger across
our public services hindering the reform process and leading to
industrial action ballots by the unions across the public services.
Already the LGPS is the least favourable of all the public sector
pension schemes, despite being the only funded scheme, with less
Government financing than other schemes. Our members are not pension
fat cats, 75% get a pension below £5000. The average pension
for a woman is a derisory £1,616 according to ODPM figures.
I would urge you to do everything you can to bring justice and
equal treatment to LGPS members in Scotland. The Scottish LGPS
is administered by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency with ministerial
responsibility resting with Tom McCabe MSP, Minister for Finance
and Public Service Reform. Therefore could you please write to
Tom McCabe urging him to treat Scottish LGPS members in the same
way as other public sector workers. Support the UNISON Scotland
campaign by signing either of the two motions (S2M-3872 Janis
Hughes: Local Government Pension Scheme and S2M-3845 Carolyn Leckie:
The Local Government Pension Scheme and Abolition of Rule of 85)
in the Scottish Parliament which call on the Scottish Executive
to initiate urgent discussions with COSLA and the relevant trade
unions to achieve a solution agreeable to all.
Please can you let me know your response and any action you have
taken to forward this campaign.
Yours Sincerely
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