[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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