Who is involved?

UNISON represents most members of the local government pension scheme including

Teaching Assistants

Home helps

Police community support officers

School meals workers

Meat hygiene inspectors

Environmental health officers

Emergency services control room staff

Refuse collectors

Key administrators

Without us, many key public services would grind to a halt.

Why is this action taking place?

The employers want to change the rules of the local government pension scheme we signed up for, forcing us to work longer or get a worse pension.  How is that fair?

In our jobs we find ourselves working alongside colleagues who have their pensions protected, for example teaching assistants working with teachers, emergency services control room staff working alongside NHS paramedics and scenes-of-crime officers working with police officers.  Again, how is that fair?

Have there been any negotiations with the government?

Strike action is always our last resort but the government and employers have refused to listen to our concerns.  That is why we are taking action to defend our pensions.

Don't LGPS members retire in luury on "fat cat" pensions?

No! We have paid 6% of our earning into our pension scheme  all our working lives.  Women, who make up three quaters of the pension scheme members, get an average of just £31 a week.  Unlike many of our employers, we never taken a pension contributions holiday - they have!  For many, pensions fall below means-tested benefit levels

Life expectancy is going up.  Why should members of the LGPS be entitles to retire at 60?

Life expectancy has increased, but not for manual workers and some jobs we do will be physically impossible over 60.  Where are we to do?

Won't this cost the taxpayer a fortune?

Actually, it will save the taxpayer around £2 billion.  Approximately 3-4% of council tax goes on the LGPS but if it didn't fund our members pensions, we would all have to pay higher taxes for benefits and state pensions for them.  The proposed cuts to the LGPS will cost the government £2billion in higher state benefits and state pensions.  At the end of the day that cost would be passed onto the taxpayer.  Unlike every other public sector pension scheme, the LGPS saves you abd the government money.  Contributions are invested and last year 28% of the value of the scheme came from investments.  If you are not a member of the LGPS or working in the public sector, you might think this has nothing to do with you.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  2.5 million people are in the LGPS or already getting a pension from it.  That means someone you know!

Many people are not in the local government pension scheme.  Why should they care?

even of you are not in the LGPS, but have been balloted, we would ask you to join your colleagues on 28th March.  We want to negotiate a scheme for the future which all our members can afford.  So if you are not an LGPS member because your pay or hours are too low, we want to ensure you will be part of the scheme and are treated equally.

MEMBERS: What happens to your pension if there is strike action?

One question Branch officers are often asked when there is any suggestion of a strike or other industrial action is what will happen to my pension?  For every whole day a member is out on strike he or she will lose one days pensionable service.  The lost days would not count in any way for pension purposes.  Therefore a member would effectively loose 1/365th of an 80th for each and every full strike day.