Public Sector pensions cut?

[NormanH]

According to this report some UK public sector pensions (specifically from the NHS)  have been being overpaid, and will have to be corrected

[Suandpete]

And the armed forces as well.  Apparently no overpayments will have to be repaid but the pensions which have been wrongly paid will be corrected from April 2009.

[NormanH]

As might be expected the Telegraph has jumped on this

[sheldonrobbo]

[quote user="NormanH"]As might be expected the Telegraph has jumped on this
[/quote]

 

and so they should ....too many people are ignorant of the cost to the private sector of wrapping so called public servants in cotton wool at the cost of the taxpayer

 

sheldon

[NormanH]

The report is however biassed in that it quotes  a contribution of £400 as needed for a private sector worker to get the equivalent of  Teacher's pension of £15000, but does not quote the superannuation payments the teacher had made to get that pension.

It give the impression that it is a  gift.

[Dick Smith]

[quote user="sheldonrobbo"]

[quote user="NormanH"]As might be expected the Telegraph has jumped on this

[/quote]

 

and so they should ....too many people are ignorant of the cost to the private sector of wrapping so called public servants in cotton wool at the cost of the taxpayer

 

sheldon

[/quote]

Nice of you to say so. I'm glad I spent 35 years paying in to my rather inadequate pension fund, whilst working as a teacher. After all, I reaped such rich rewards whilst I was doing it.

Merry Christmas to you too, Mr Scrooge.

[Gardian]

I've yet to hear the Govt statement on this, so there may be more information to come.  However, I'd be interested to learn how pensions could be reduced if an error comes to light. Presumably those affected were in receipt of a pension statement prior to their actual retirement: one would have thought that this constituted a contract which couldn't be varied (other than increased in line with it's contractual terms).

Our ex or current lawyers out there will know the answer.

p.s. Me happily unaffected.[:)]

[Dick Smith]

From what I saw on TV today it concerns overpayment, not miscalculation. It dates back to the 80s apparently.

[Benjamin]

Were the poor people who were overpaid Child Tax Credit let off paying it back?

(Not a dig at the people affected by today's statement).

[Dick Smith]

I think in this case the clawing back may be from the company that made the overpayment. That was the clear implication I saw.

[ali-cat]

[quote user="Benjamin"]Were the poor people who were overpaid Child Tax Credit let off paying it back?

(Not a dig at the people affected by today's statement).

[/quote]

As far as I am aware the answer is yes, if the overpayment was made in error by the government. There is also a big difference in being overpaid for a year or two, compared to someone who has been overpaid for possibly 20 years. Surely they could never be expected to repay this amount out of their pension.

[Benjamin]

We're folowing one another around this a fternoon ali-cat.

This is a story from a friend relating to his son. the son and then girlfriend had a child but ubfortunately split up. They had joint custody and he had plenty of agreed access to the child.

He lost his job but with the help of family continued with maintenance payments for the child. One day he received a 'phone call from a department dealing with overpayments of Child Tax Credit as he had completed the forms with the child's Mother although she actually received the payments. He was aked what he inyended to do about making repayments even though this had arisen because of a mistake by the processing department. He explained that he hadn't benefited from this money and as he was out of work he had no means of paying.

"How long have you been out of work?" he was asked.

"Two weeks" he replied.

"That's OK then"  they said " we'll get the money out of your tax rebate". And they did and as far as I'm aware that was the last he heard of the matter.

[Gardian]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]From what I saw on TV today it concerns overpayment, not miscalculation. It dates back to the 80s apparently.
[/quote]

You may well be right Dick, but how could 10,000 people be overpaid over a period of 30 years (not all the 10k, of course, but a lot of people over a significant period of time) without it coming to light?

You'd have thought that someone would have noticed and not everyone would have kept quiet, if only for fear of it being clawed back at some point in time.