Solid gold pensions for Scots?
Hi everyone,
with the weekend whistling towards to me at breakneck speed I noticed news in the Scotsman today and I just had to say something! Sorry, for the majority of folk in Scotland looking for good news or even hope of a ‘Solid Gold’ pension when planning for retirement, what follows probably won’t make you feel very happy…
My reference to ’solid gold’ pensions is because it looks like that’s exactly what Members of the Scottish Parliament could be lining themselves up for according to today’s Scotsman.
They have to vote on new proposals, one of which is a plan to increase the profitability of their pensions. If they vote for this proposal it would mean in essence they’d be voting to get more money but for shorter service years. Just now MSPs get 1/5oth of their final salary paid into their pension fund from public money for every year of service. The new proposal asks MSPs to vote on changing it to 1/4oth of their final salary instead.
No wonder Mathew Elliot of the Taxpayers Alliance said regarding the proposed changes “The Scottish Parliament makes Goldman Sachs look like a poorhouse.”
When pensions for so many across Scotland seem in crisis due to mismanagement, poor performance and simple lack of funds due to families instead having to maybe use money for debt managment etc, is this really how our elected representatives should behave with our (public) money?
What do you think - are our MSPs right to act like this?
Have a great weekend - I’ll no doubt be thrashing out the very question with friends tonight.
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