11 April 2008
Thousands of local government workers have accepted a new pension scheme drawn up by the Scottish government.
Members of Unison, which represents 150,000 council employees in Scotland, voted in favour of the new Local Government Pension Scheme, which retains the normal retirement age of 65 and includes a final salary structure.
The scheme was developed by the former administration at Holyrood, following a row over the abolition of the 'rule of 85'. This allowed members over the age of 60, whose age and service added up to 85 years, to retire early with unreduced benefits.
The rule was removed to comply with a European Union directive. In Scotland a deal was negotiated involving a commitment to reinvest the savings into the new scheme.
The turnout for the Unison ballot was just 25%, but members voted by 25 to one to accept the new arrangements, which will come into force in April 2009.
Apart from retaining the normal retirement age of 65, the LGPS, which will cover more than 220,000 staff across the public sector, gives employees the flexibility to work fewer hours over the age of 65 while drawing part of their pension.
Unison's Scottish convener, Mike Kirby, said it was clear from the improvements achieved 'that it was possible to maintain and improve a decent final salary scheme which was fair to both employers and employees, provided a decent level of pension and was sustainable in overall cost.'
He added: 'It is an object lesson to those directors in the private sector who shout about the need to cut staff pensions whilst maintaining their own gold-plated pensions, that with fair contributions from both employees and employers, it is still possible to offer decent pensions options.'
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