Were national pay rates in the public sector a bad thing?

[sandyRoe]

Why should teachers or nurses who live in the far corners on the UK expect the same income as those in the south east?

http://www.telegraph....rapped-in-budget.html

[MartinBev58]

Hi Sandy

I see what you are saying but I think nurses in London get a London allowance and their basic is the same.
I did not work in the public sector but I worked in London and ours was just a salary which was higher than in provincial offices.
I have retired to the West Midlands taking my London pension with me.
At one time my ex employers said people who move out of London to retire should only get the provincial pension rate.
The main problem was when I was working I had to contribute just over 6% of my higher London salary to the pension scheme and the people contributed the same percentage.
My view is I was charged at the London Rate for my pension so it should be paid at that rate regardless of where I retire to.

Martin

[MartinBev58]

Hi redhelen.

Are their pensions based on their London Salary?.

Martin

[Glendor]

Hi Martin / redhelen

I worked in London and retired in the West Midlands and get paid a London rate pension.
Perhaps in the future it may be possible to take pension payments from all employees at the provincial rate and give them the option to make extra contributions if they intend to stay in London after retirement.
The only problem is a lot of the people I worked with said they were going to leave London on retirement, grandchildred have come along and it has not happened.
There is no way pension should be reduced for people who have paid for it in the past.

Glen

[Slapshot]

London weighting was always paid because the salaries were national....if they want to go regional does that mean places like Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Cheshire and all the other high cost of living areas will gain this weighting as well?? I think not

[Glendor]

There was a large town allowance ar one time with my employers to cover train fare etc but this is no longer the case.

Glen

[Eve]

I thought they already had hotspots with a higher salary in some sectors of the public sector (above and beyond London).

[karenmac60]

Erm, because they do the same job Sandy???

[jno]

if the pay rates in Bolton are lower than those in Truro, then (a) all the nurses from Bolton may more to Truro, and the government will have to raise the Bolton rates to get them back; (b) good nurses may move to Truro for the higher pay, leaving Bolton full of bad nurses. Or teachers, or police, or whatever. Whether you think this is a good idea may depend on whether you live in Bolton or Truro.

[ladybirder]

I worked in the private sector and when I moved (at my request) from London to Yorkshire I had to take a drop in salary. That did not seem unreasonable to me. I could buy a house in Leeds from the sale of a small flat in London.

[HowardKennitby]

It is a plan to reduce the size of the public sector. Once pay is reduced in the regions(hate that word) it is likely that the public sector will not be able to attract the appropriate amount and quality of people.
When this happens the government will say that they have to put the work out to tender in the private sector.
Job Done!

[MartinBev58]

Hi Ladybirder

You said ''I worked in the private sector and when I moved (at my request) from London to Yorkshire I had to take a drop in salary. That did not seem unreasonable to me. I could buy a house in Leeds from the sale of a small flat in London''.
I do not know if you were refering to my thread but I worked in London all my working life and people in London and Provincial offices had to pay just over 6% of their total salary towards ther pension.
A lot of employees moved out of London on retirement and our employers tried to say our pensions should be paid at the lower provincial rate.
The way I and a lot of the other ex London employees see it is we paid in at the London rate so that is the rate we should be paid out at regardless of where you go to live on retirement.

Martin

[sandyRoe]

I wonder will the government set a regional rate for MPs?
Where someone lives on retirement should have no bearing on their pension. They've paid for it through their contributions and they service they gave during their working life.
Karenmac, I agree.

[ladybirder]

No Martin I wasn't referring to you. I was just pointing out that in the private sector you get the market rate for the job for the area you work in. I wasn't referring to pensions. I was replying more to RH's post >>Erm, because they do the same job Sandy???<<

[China Doll]

There are areas other than london that have a higer cost of living allowance, Guildford was one of them as I used to get it when I lived there. I saw a job very similar to my own about two bands lower advertised in Cornwall, it's completely unfair and totally not reflective of the work that person would be expected to do. If I apply for exactly the same job in another part of the country then I expect the exact same wages (minus the london weighting) as the work I'm doing will be no different.