Skip to main content

Public sector pensions

On Saturday, the press reported a massive protest in Dublin against the worsening state of the economy

Despite the coverage, it would seem that not many on this side of the Irish Sea are too sure what the strikes are about as the news coverage has been scant to say the least.

Having been over in Ireland recently, it would seem that the row is all about public sector pensions or, actually who should pay the pensions.

Simply put, the government has decided that it will save money by getting public sector workers to pay more of their share of their pension. Essentially this means that the state pays less into the pension and that this is compensated directly from the workers' monthly salary.

This means, of course, that the take-home pay is then reduced, although it is not strictly a pay cut as the money is put into the individual's pension pot.

As a result, around £1.2 billion pounds will be saved by the State not paying into the pension scheme.

Not surprisingly, as shown on Saturday, there has been a massive backlash to these proposals.

However, given that there has been growing concern about the state of public sector pensions in the UK, how soon before such a move is considered by the UK Government as public finances run out of control?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow.... I've seen the TV coverage of this, but assumed it was just a load of the "usual suspects".

Some coverage here...
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0223/1224241665700.html?via=mr

DJ
Anonymous said…
the sooner the better

Popular posts from this blog

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is

Change your business through change

All business organisations, especially entrepreneurial small firms, must cope with an ever changing business environment. However, small firms have a very limited ability in being able to control and relate to changes in the environment, although this can depend on the context of change. For example, if a major customer changes increases its order, the entrepreneur should be able to predict events and actions with regard to the timing and consequences of such a change and forecast any changes in the required resources and cashflow. Given this, the entrepreneur can undertake rational short-interval planning activity in order to underpin organisational control. However, much of the change facing business today is largely unpredictable in terms of its timing and its consequences. In other words, such change is open-ended, with it often being unclear what is changing or why it is changing. For example, the effect of the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Centre was largely unexpected and its

THE PERFECT STORM FACING THE UK ECONOMY

In his sublime 1997 book on the fate of the fishing boat Andrea Gale, the author Sebastian Junger defined a “perfect storm” as a rare combination of events or circumstances that results in an unusually bad situation.  This term would not be out of place in describing what is currently happening to the UK economy which is being battered on so many fronts with little respite in sight. For example, the war in Ukraine has had an unexpected impact on energy bills in Europe due to the curtailing of exports from Russia which, last year, was responsible for supplying 40% of all natural gas to the European Union. Whilst the UK is not dependent on Russia for its energy needs, the scramble by other countries to find alternative sources has resulted in higher prices globally which has impacted on the fuel imported by the UK with normal suppliers struggling to meet demand. There have also been considerable supply constraints globally which have been driven by manufacturers struggling to get their g