POLICE officers reacted with fury this week after hearing that proposed pension contribution rises for MPs have been suspended.<\/p>\n
While British Bobbies face 1% and 1.25% rises to pension payments on 1 April \u2013 it has been revealed that the country\u2019s MPs will be spared such increases.<\/p>\n
Jon Christopher, chairman of West Yorkshire Police Federation, labelled the decision “disgusting”.<\/p>\n
The decision to drop the budgeted 1.85% increase in contributions for MPs was taken by the MPs\u2019 expenses body Ipsa and is likely to face objections from the Treasury.<\/p>\n
Mr Christopher said: \u201cThis just shows the lack of fairness from this Government. This would have been a fine way for the Government to show we really are all in this together\u2026but clearly that is not the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows what they stand for. And that is looking after themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThey have made rapid decision with pay, pensions and conditions of all public sector workers. When it comes to themselves they are happy to amble at a leisurely pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
After hearing the decision Neil Bowles, chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said: \u201cAre we really all in it together?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bowles added: \u201cSome people are more in it together than others. Why should one group of privileged public sector workers be given preferential treatment over the rest?\u201d<\/p>\n
Last February, the Senior Salaries Review Body recommended that MPs\u2019 pensions contributions should rise by 2.4% to reflect the amount paid by ordinary public sector workers.<\/p>\n
But this was decreased to 1.85% following an intervention by Ipsa, an independent body that can decide how much MPs contribute in year on year increases.<\/p>\n
The Treasury expected and budgeted for the same increase of 1.85% this year. But Ipsa decided to suspend the increase in expectation of an overhaul of MPs\u2019 pay, pension and packages in the autumn.<\/p>\n
On 1 April, the majority of English and Welsh officers \u2013 on the 30 year pension scheme (PPS) \u2013 face a 1.25% rise to their monthly contributions \u2013 up to 13.5%.<\/p>\n
If police officers are on the newer 35 year scheme (NPPS), they face a 1% increase to a contribution rate of 11.5%.<\/p>\n
Steve White, Vice-Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales said: \u201cOfficers around the country will be livid and dismayed that having been promised fair treatment by this government, clearly MPs appear to be treated more favourably than others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis government is ruthlessly pursuing reforms to the public sector at breakneck speed and yet seems content for a review of their own pay and conditions to happen at a leisurely pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
MPs contribute an average of 13.2 per cent of their \u00a365,738 salaries into the schemes, which pay out after they reach 65.<\/p>\n
Ipsa said it deferred the rise so the contribution rate could be considered alongside other aspects as part of a wholesale review of pay and pensions.<\/p>\n
A spokesman said: \u201cMPs\u2019 pensions certainly need looking at. And that is why we are in the middle of a fundamental review looking at both MPs\u2019 pensions and pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
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POLICE officers reacted with fury this week after hearing that proposed pension contribution rises for MPs have been suspended. While British Bobbies face 1% and 1.25% rises to pension payments\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}