Mary Bousted: We are reluctant strikers but it is time to take a stand

Our members teaching in state and private schools and colleges in England and Wales have voted overwhelmingly to take this unprecedented step to protect their pensions – with 83 per cent of those who voted in both sectors voting to strike.

It is unheard of for teachers in private schools to vote to strike, and the fact that they have done so, alongside colleagues in the state sector, demonstrates the anger towards the Government’s plans to make teachers and lecturers in schools and colleges pay more, work longer and get less in retirement.

So much has been said and written about public sector pensions in the last few months that it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction. We want to set the record straight.

ATL is in dispute because the Government wants teachers and lecturers to pay an extra 50 per cent in pension contributions. By 2014, our members would have to pay 9.4 per cent of their salary, towards their pensions. And, if the Government gets its way, they will also have to work to age 66, rising to 68 when increases to the state pension age are introduced.

In addition, the Government wants to abolish final salary pensions and replace them with less beneficial average salary pensions.

Finally, in what seems a truly bizarre move for a government whose cabinet is filled with MPs educated at public schools, it is planning to expel from the pension scheme the 60,000 teachers working outside the state sector.

All this comes on top of Ministers switching the index determining how much pensions rise each year in favour of a lower index, meaning pensioners are already receiving significantly less in retirement.

These five key issues pose a serious threat to our members’ pensions and to children’s education in the future.

Young graduates saddled with £30,000 of student debt are less likely to become teachers or lecturers, and those graduates who are prepared to accept lower salaries than their peers will struggle to be able to afford to pay into a pension as well as pay off their student loans.

Experienced teachers and heads have said that they will either leave the profession or retire earlier than planned if these proposals are implemented. And it will become even harder than it is now to recruit headteachers, particularly in primary schools.

The National Audit Office has confirmed that the cost of all public sector pension schemes is coming down – £67bn will be saved between now and 2050 as a result of changes implemented in 2007/08. 

Lord Hutton’s commission calculated that the switch in indexation from RPI to CPI will reduce costs by a further £20bn over the same period. 

The Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) is supposed to be valued every four years, the last valuation being due in early 2010. The Government, however, has postponed the valuations of all public sector pension schemes.

This means no-one, including Ministers, knows whether current employee pension contributions are appropriate or whether they need to rise again because people are living longer. This makes it extremely difficult for ATL to negotiate on any changes to the TPS.

The Government claims that low and middle income earners will continue to receive a pension that “will be broadly as generous” as it is now. ATL calculations show that members of the TPS will be up to 40 per cent worse off than they are now. Losing 40 per cent of your pension is not “broadly as generous”.

The Government has made a big issue about the affordability of pensions now that people are living longer. This was taken account of when, in 2006, it was agreed that teachers and lecturers would pay higher pension contributions, if necessary, and employer contributions were capped at 14 per cent.

An additional adjustment was that teachers and lecturers joining the TPS from 2007 onwards would have a retirement age of 65.

ATL is willing to negotiate changes to the TPS. We are not saying that the status quo must be maintained at all costs. But the Government also needs to be willing to negotiate openly and fairly.

Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander’s recent comments indicated that the Government has already made all the key decisions, and this makes negotiation impossible.

We have been accused by the Government of acting prematurely in calling a strike, but the Government must demonstrate a willingness to take a long-term view over pensions.

ATL members are reluctant strikers. But, in the face of this unreasonable attack on the pensions of millions of public sector workers and their families, we have to stand up and be counted tomorrow.

Dr Mary Bousted is general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.