UNISON publishes LGPS pensions calculator

UNISON has now published pensions calculators on the national union website. There are two calculators for those of us in the Local Government Pension Scheme, one which shows how much more we will be asked to pay up front if the Government get there way – and another which shows how much our pension will be reduced by and how we will have to work longer to get that pension.

There are two different options proposed by the Government, and two options put forward by the Local Government Employers, and for the long term future of the scheme there are a range of proposed “accrual rates” so the calculators offer you choices about these things so that you can see the full range of possible changes to your pension contributions and your pensions.

The calculators also ask you how many hours a week you work because that is relevant to the accrual of your pension. Because this is a national dispute the calculators are based upon the national standard of a 37 hour working week, whereas the London standard is 36 and – in Lambeth – we have had 35 hour working since the 1980s, now harmonised across the whole Council workforce. The branch has already raised this with the Union nationally and Regionally and suggested that variants of the calculator based on 36 and 35 hour weeks should be published.

However, an enormous amount of work has gone into producing these accurate calculators for this vital national dispute so we need to use these calculators now to understand in broad terms the scale of the Government’s attack on our pensions.

You therefore need to take Lambeth’s 35 hour week into account when using the pension calculators on the national union website as follows;

If you work full time – leave the figure of 37 hours (which is the default setting when you open the calculator).

If you work part time – instead of entering the number of hours you actually work each week you need to divide that figure by 35 and then multiply it by 37 (or, which is easier, multiply by 1.057). So if you work 17.5 hours then enter 17.5 x 1.057 = 18.5, or if you work 25 hours then enter 25 x 1.057 = 26.43.

If you work term time only – contact the Pensions Penguin at askthelambethpenguin@yahoo.co.uk

Here are the links to the national calculators again;

How much more you will pay

How much less you will get

All members should take the time to look at these pension calculators, and shop stewards should familiarise yourself with the calculator so that you can help members. Give yourself a bit of time and make a note of all the various ways in which the Government’s different proposals will hit you.