If there’s one union that can be relied on for information about pensions, it’s Prospect.
As part of its DB inquiry, the @CommonsWorkPen has asked the PPF to update its analysis of providing indexation in respect of pension accrued before April 1997 and to disapply the 10% haircut.https://t.co/2Hu636IQwk
— Prospect Pension (@ProspectPension) October 28, 2023
If you want to see a union making absolutely sure public sector pensions don’t short-change their members- it’s Prospect
Important update showing why the proposal for an employer contributions holiday for the States of Guernsey’s public sector pension fund is a very bad idea. https://t.co/nbHqUJWifi
— Prospect Pension (@ProspectPension) October 16, 2023
If you want a no-frills website that you need to manage your pension affairs, look at Prospect’s
Unions – a force for good in pensions
A union can bes a force for good in pensions. It can fight to keep benefits and restore benefits that are lost. The work of UCU for its members is a case in point.
It can fight to innovate and find solutions to intractable problems, CWU is a case in point.
It can campaign to maintain public service pensions for the millions of workers who still accrue defined benefit pensions, Unison and Unite lead the way.
And for many smaller unions, representing seafarers, railway workers , and other trades, the union continues to challenge.
This blog’s for Prospect for the other unions and for the TUC who work for the rights of worker’s pensions. Let’s not forget their importance now and in the years to come.
It is interesting that Prospect cites the letter from Work and Pensions to the PPF in response to the PPF submission to them, It will be really interesting to see PPF’s response to the requests made in it. I have read their submission to W&PC closely and have difficulty reconciling many of the figures quoted in it, for example the £4.3 and £7.7 billion indexation uplift cost estimates. The response to that W&PC request will make very interesting reading.
There are other issues with the PPF submission such as this: “The PPF is funded principally through four main sources:
Taking on the assets of the schemes which transfer to us,
The returns we make from investing our assets,
Charging an annual levy paid by PPF eligible schemes, and
Recovering money, and other assets, from the insolvent employers of the schemes we take on.” In fact, in the most recently reported year, the PPF’s largest source of funding was borrowing, in both monetary and proportional terms.
The PPF disclosures on the proportional source of funds do make one point evident – that the levy is actually redundant. Total revenues from the levy since inception have been £9.3 billion according the the Purple Book and the PPF has a surplus of £12.3 billion.