Extract from committee stage Commons) of the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill - Jan 27

Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab):...I will outline our main concerns about new clause 2. First, the Government’s proposal for an economic check appears to breach the 25-year guarantee given to employees by the Treasury in November 2011, as well as explicit promises made to the trade unions in 2012 that public sector employers would meet any costs arising from changes to long-term economic assumptions. The Bill should aim to restore the faith of public servants in their pension scheme following the Government’s £17 billion mistake in 2014. That has been echoed in Committee.

Instead, I fear that Ministers risk further undermining trust between the Government and public sector employees by ignoring the assurances given to public servants and their union representatives. The TUC, the National Education Union and PRS have all warned that the proposals unfairly penalise pension scheme members for lower than expected pay increases due to the public sector pay freeze and for the reduction in the expected growth of life expectancy...

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