| Topic: | Is our real problem Ealing's pension deficit? | |
| Posted by: | Andy Jones | |
| Date/Time: | 05/02/20 15:08:00 |
| Watching the rugby at the weekend I got into conversation with another group of people who were in the same bar and it turned into a very convivial afternoon. Given the result we wanted to talk about something more cheery so natuarally the subject switched to pensions rather than the match. The chap I was talking to seemed to know his stuff and told me that Ealing Council in particular had a major problem with their fund which was running a very substantial deficit. He said most local authorities had an issue because fewer people were joining council schemes because of outsourcing and head count reduction and more and more people were retiring and living longer but Ealing's short fall was more than most. He also said that at some point soon, just like many companies the borough will have to start covering the deficit which could be in the region of half a billion. There is no prospect that scheme income will make it self funding because, although head count has reduced, average salaries have increased significantly and generous early retirement packages remain in place. He said that Ealing like many other councils have reduced costs by persuading people to take retirement. This is actually more expensive but pushes when it needs to be paid for out into the future. His estimate was that by the end of this decade local taxes would need to double to make sure the pension fund was adequately funded. I really don't know enough about pensions and the way they work to know if this is alarmist nonesense or a timely warning. I have heard people say similar things before. It there anyone with expertise in these matters who could comment? |
| Topic | Date Posted | Posted By |
| Is our real problem Ealing's pension deficit? | 05/02/20 15:08:00 | Andy Jones |
| Re:Is our real problem Ealing's pension deficit? | 05/02/20 17:34:00 | Rosco White |
| Re:Re:Is our real problem Ealing's pension deficit? | 07/02/20 08:49:00 | Andy Jones |
| Reply | 07/02/20 09:41:00 | Andrew OSullivan |
| Re:Reply | 07/02/20 13:48:00 | Rosco White |
| Re:Re:Reply | 07/02/20 18:36:00 | Tania Bapuji |
| Re:Re:Re:Reply | 08/02/20 14:10:00 | Andy Jones |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Reply | 09/02/20 09:46:00 | Adam Kimmel |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Reply | 21/02/20 10:12:00 | Andy Jones |
| Re:Re:Re:Reply | 08/02/20 18:01:00 | Richard Foster |