£300m Scottish local government pension surplus

Research by UNISON - Scotland’s largest union in public services has shown that payments into local government pension funds in Scotland are £299.944million more than being paid out to pensioners. This figure does not include income to the pension funds from investments. The NHS scheme is also £2bn in surplus across the UK, nailing the myth pushed by UK ministers that more money is needed for public sector pensions.

The figures are published on the eve of a strike on November 30th which will see hundreds of thousand of public servants take industrial action over Government imposed attacks on public sector pensions. 

The UK Government has imposed a change in the way future pension rises will be calculated from being based on the Retail price Index (RPI) to the Consumer price Index(CPI) this shift will mean that over time pensions will lose around fifteen per cent of their value.  In addition there are also threats that the retirement age will be raised.

These changes are being imposed against a background of 5% inflation and a pay freeze across local government and the NHS.  Members of the Local Government pension scheme pay between 5.5% and 8% of their salary into the scheme. As the value of wages drops this puts pressure on to not join or to opt out of the pension scheme. This in turn impacts on the stability of the pension funds and greater welfare costs when staff retire.

 Speaking about the figures UNISON’s Scottish Secretary Mike Kirby said:

“These figures show that public sector pension funds are not just healthy - but valuable contributors to the economy  - funding much needed investment.The current attacks on both pensions and on public sector employment will be bad for the schemes  - and in the long run bad for the economy. The UK Government won’t be putting any of the money they raise or save from stealing from pensions into the schemes  - just using it to pay back debt run up to bail out their friends the bankers – it’s not justifiable or fair and people won’t stand for it”

Fund	Contributions (000s)	Benefits (000s)	Surplus (000s)
Falkirk	73,402	55,940	17,462
Fife	71,216	49,757	21,459
Dumfries & Galloway	31,062	24,295	6,767
Highland	53,283	37,870	15,413
Lothian	191,521	153,236	38,285
North East Scot	124,005	90,568	33,437
Orkney	9,236	4,528	4,708
Borders	21,253	15,484	5,769
Shetland	17,565	8,803	8,762
Strathclyde	588,714	471,142	117,572
Tayside	101,176	70,866	30,310
		TOTAL	299,944