28.07.11
Anger over pension contributions rises
Public sector workers are hearing this morning how much more they will have to pay a year in pension contributions – and for some high earners it could top £3,000 in the first year of increases alone.
Around 750,000 of the lowest-paid staff will escape without an increase, but around five million more teachers, nurses, doctors, civil servants and others will face contributions increases.
The details are not being officially announced until later, but figures leaked to the Daily Telegraph suggest that those on the highest salaries will pay around £3,400 a year more, while workers on £50,000 will pay around £680-£770 a year more, depending on which part of the public sector they work in.
Those on £35,000 face an annual contributions increase in the region of £516 and those on £21,000 will pay an extra £108 a year.
Additional increases will be introduced until 2015, meaning the overall extra contributions rise to almost £3bn a year, accounting for an average 3.2% of each worker’s gross salary before tax.
Unions, already waging industrial action campaigns over the long-term reforms that have come out of Lord Hutton’s report, are threatening more strikes.
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