Public sector pension scheme members singled out for 3% Deficit tax

Dave Prentis writes on the New Statesman blog about the Con Dem attacks on public service workers which have caused next Wednesday's #N30 strike. He highlights the under-reported and grossly unfair 3% deficit tax being levied solely on public service pension scheme members over the next 3 years - of which 'not a penny of the money raised will go towards pensions' http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/11/public-sector-workers-pay

Dave also exposes the double dealing justification for the Con Dem pension reforms. As former Labour Minister Alan Johnson acknowledged this week, only 5 years ago all public schemes were reformed with union agreement to address demographic changes in the workforce - as a result of which 'the cost of public sector pensions, as a proportion of GDP, will fall, costs have been reduced even more by the switch to using CPI rather than RPI to calculate the annual increase in pensions payments. Both the health and local government schemes are in good shape, with billions more coming in than has to be paid out in pensions every year'