[sejanus]

Am I the only person who finds it very strange that the taxpayer is going to compensate the people who aren't getting company pensions because the companies they work for have gone bust? ( BBC NEWS | Programmes | Moneybox | High Court victory for pensioners )

So those of us who don't get the benefit of a pension have to compensate those who do - according to a judge who, surprise, surprise, is sitting on a huge pension at, once again, our expense.

It would have made sense if he'd ordered the individual ministers and civil servants who gave bad advice to pay the compensation but why should the rest of us cough up?

[Dave]

I'm just gutted I missed the final salary pension scheme by a couple fo years where I work Having compared my "money purchase" pension plan vs a colleague on similar pay, but with Final Salary Pension , i found their Pension was worth twice mine at retirement age

[Dave]

Re your original post, you'd hate to be one of the people involved , who suddenly finds their whole pension gone . I expect these will pale in to insignifigance vs what we will end up paying for the public sector pension black holes

[sejanus]

My problem is with the idea that those of us who haven't got nice big pensions are going to have to pay out of our taxes for other people to have them. Of course, I blame the politicians who, for the past sixty years, haven't done anything to make sure that there's one single, fair pension for all but connived at all these special cases for the civil service, state owned enterprises and now private companies who don't stick to their promises. The whole thing is going to collapse, as you say Dave, when a decreasing working population finds itself having to shell out so that civil servants can have their index linked pensions, while the rest of us live off cat food.

[Soupdragon]

Nothing is fair!

[Liam O'Neill]

Originally Posted by sejanus

It would have made sense if he'd ordered the individual ministers and civil servants who gave bad advice to pay the compensation but why should the rest of us cough up?

The government run the country on our behalf, so it seems obvious that if they mess up on our behalf, we should pay for the mistake. It seems someone has messed up in this case, you would imagine some action has been taken against them, but that doesn't really change the fact these people act on our behalf, so we have to pay.

[Matt F]

If I remember correctly, the government produced a leaflet advising these people that joining the company pension scheme was "safe" or words to that effect.

So - they gave advice that was at best misleading, at worst wrong. If an IFA had done the same then they would have to compensate the investor so it's only right that the government do the same for this incorrect advice. The fact that we foot the bill is an unfortunate irrelevance.

As for public sector pensions - the government's biggest mistake was not reforming the scheme (i.e. change it to a money purchase) for NEW MEMBERS before it went and doubled the number of state employees. Quite why they didn't do this is beyond me - obviously the unions would moan but no-one could really complain as you'd know the deal before you signed up.

As it was they bottled out and stored problems up for the future. I can't see how it can possibly continue - either the retirement age for the scheme will have to increase or employees contributions will have to increase. The fact that the majority of private companies have had to ditch their final salary schemes for new members tells you all you need to know.

What I do find rather irksome is that whilst state employees pensions have remained untouched, the rest of us now have less in our pension pots thanks the the chancellor's disgraceful tax raid on pension funds and the basic state pension age is being increased to 68!

Matt.

[fujitsu1522]

I wonder how long It will be before they tax the amount of digital Photography we produce?
will It be 10p a jpeg...