Battle
over changes to LGPS set for High Court
The Government is facing a judicial
review over its changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Trade union Unison has lodged a
judicial review, arguing that the removal of the 85-year rule in the
LGPS without providing full protection for existing scheme members may
have been unlawful. In March, 1.5million local authority workers
staged a 24-hour strike in protest over plans to scrap the rule which
currently allows members to retire on a full pension if their age a years
of service add up to 85.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott -
whose department was responsible for the LGPS at the time-, has refused to
back down on the policy. The case is expected to be heard in the
High Court in the next couple of months. A Unison spokesman said:
"We do not agree with the government and will continue to tell them
so. The consultation on draft regulations changing the scheme was
carried out under false premises because financial calculations on the
cost of protection and on expected savings from the government actuaries
simply did not add up."
In addition, following meetings with
the unions and the local government employers, the government has said it
is "minded" to consult relevant bodies on some improved
protection arrangements, including delaying the removal of the 85-year
rule until 2008 and extending transitional protection from 2013 until
2016.
Trade Unions and local government employers were this
week arguing over the success of Tuesday's strike in disrupting public
services.
As LGC went to press, unions - including Unison, the
GMB and Amicus - were claiming one million members of the Local Government
Pension Scheme had walked out over proposed changes to pensions.
However, the Local Government Association estimated only 400,000
council staff took part, and accused the unions of exaggerating their
figures.
The perceived success of this week's strike is
crucial, as it is likely to influence future pension negotiations between
unions, employers and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, as well as
inform potential future industrial action.
The unions called up to 1.5m LGPS members out on
strike action over the government's plans to remove the 85-year-rule,
insisting the protection for existing members - which allows them to
retire at 60 if their length of service plus age adds up to 85 - remain.
On the day Unison general secretary Dave Prentis
congratulated members for their "solid support", saying
"our members have taken the decision to strike very seriously
indeed".
Unions particularly cited
Liverpool
and the north-east as being areas of good turnout.
But the LGA published figures claiming only 25% of
1.6m staff had taken part. The
council with the highest turnout was Manchester City Council at 90%.
LGA chairman Sandy Brucelockheart (Cons) said the
findings revealed union predictions of 1.5m strikers were "wildly
optimistic".
He told LGC: "The turnout was just about what
most people expected when you think that only 13% of staff voted for the
strike, which is one in eight members and nothing like the 1.5m.
It was out by a long way. The
unions obviously talked up the issue, but it does not do their cause any
good to exaggerate."
He added: "But the strike is not really the
issue here. The issue is about
trying to resolve the long-term reform of the scheme, which is what needs
to happen now. It is difficult
to know what they're striking about at this particular time, because the
decision to remove the rule has already been made. The unions have made
their point, but I hope they will now join us at the table."
However, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis
replied that the "overwhelming show of strength from Lands End to
John O'Groats has obviously taken the LGA and some local councils by
surprise". He said: It
just goes to prove our point that they have failed to recognise the
burning resentment our members feel about this pensions con.
Strike action is always the last resort - but after the 40 meetings
we have had with the government and the employers, strike action became
the only way our members could demonstrate that they were not prepared to
just sit back while their pension was broken."
The actual impact was hard to gauge on Tuesday.
But as LGC went to press, many council HR officers reported that
despite being affected, for many services it was largely "business as
usual".
Who took part?
Nearly 300,000 council workers were reportedly on
strike across
Scotland
&
Wales
on Tuesday. Unions organised
nine rallies and marches in Scottish cities, and five in
Wales
. Schools and transport were
among services worst hit. Pat
Watters (Lab), president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities,
said he "fully understood the frustrations of staff", as other
parts of the public sector had been protected from the end of the '85
Rule'.
Northern services appeared to take the brunt of the
strike. The LGA figures said
90% of Manchester City Council staff took part.
Liverpool City Council said around 5,000 staff were striking.
Some 50% of the city council's staff are unionised.
In these areas, many schools, leisure centres and libraries were
closed, and in
Liverpool
council managers had to step in to deal with urgent social work cases.
On Merseyside, Mersey Travel had to grapple with the closure of the
Mersey
tunnels and
Mersey
ferry. There was evidence of
solid support in
London
, with schools closing in many boroughs and also in areas of the
Midlands
. However, other councils in
the south, west and east, played down the impact of the disruption.
Strikes were noticeable, rather than crippling
This week's industrial action, although only a day,
was important to set a benchmark for support for any future strikes.
And it would appear from LGC's own research that although Tuesday's
walkouts had a big enough impact to hurt public services, it was not
crippling. So if limited
impact is the base unions are starting from, it is difficult to image how
future regional strikes could do more.
But do they need to? The
unions have shown they can drum up significant support.
However, whether officials are prepared to step in between the
employers and unions and stop any further action is unclear.
So far the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has appeared
uncomfortable with any suggestion it should undertake a central
negotiating role for the scheme, despite unions referring to John Prescott
as the "fat controller". Although
aware it is responsible for the scheme, it appears officials hope to avoid
getting caught up in too much wrangling over costs.
For example, in a statement this week the ODPM said:
"Negotiations regarding the terms of the benefit package
offered by the scheme, and how its costs are met between staff and
employers, is a key area for the trade unions and local government
employers." They are
probably not the only ones hoping to avoid drawing too much fire however.
Unions may threaten more strike action, but will further stoppages
do them any favours, at least in terms of public opinion?
People may support 24-hour action, but the memory of the Winter of
Discontent may put paid to support for longer term strikes.
Election threatened by second walkout
More action on the day before May's local government
elections could disrupt preparations for the poll.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis has warned the union and its
members are prepared for additional industrial action, unless government
backs down on its decision to remove the 85-year-rule.
Commenting on Tuesday's walkout he said:
"Over one million workers caught the Local Government
Association and employers on the hop.
They never expected 17,500 schools, the majority of council
offices, refuse depots, leisure centres, trains, buses, tunnels and
ferries across the country to shut down."
But the government said on Tuesday it was not prepared to back down
on scrapping the rule of 85. In
a statement to the House of Commons, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott
said the rule would go from
1 October 2006
, to "ensure compliance with European Union age discrimination
stability...and to secure ongoing cost stability."
LGC understands the unions now have plans for regional and
strategic action against major public services, including transport
networks and toll roads. Sources
also report it is considering holding a strike the day before the local
government elections on 4 May, which would cause major upheaval to
campaigns. One council HR
director said: "There
have been no official warnings, although on the grapevine, there has been
mention of a strike around the time of the elections."
Unions officially discussed options at the Industrial Action
Committee that was held yesterday (Wednesday).
(Articles reproduced with permission of the Local Government Chronicle)
Negotiations over the long-term reform of the Local
Government Pension Scheme are being marred by a row over the definition of
'lifetime protection' for staff.
Despite the unions' decision this week to defer
strike action by meat hygiene inspectors to allow further talks, it
appears negotiations risk deadlock.
Unions claim there are discrepancies over the true
costs of an ageing workforce because longevity data fails to show the
differing life-expectancy rates across the
UK
. If people are not living as
long as suggested by recent reports, the unions say there should be more
money available in the future than currently predicted.
"It is based on the value of the pension, rather
than the number of people," one union officer said.
"Therefore in some areas, there are still people who are low
paid dying relatively young. The
statistics don't take account of that, so in effect the pension is living
longer than the person."
The decision to scrap the 85-year rule, which lets
workers retire at 60 on a pension if their service plus their age adds up
to 85, from 1 October 2006 was laid before Parliament last week.
The 2006 regulations state that those who have satisfied the rule
by their 60th birthday before 31 March 2013 will be given full protection.
Section 7.3 adds:
"Further consideration may still be given to additional
transitional protection arrangements for existing scheme members, where
these are affordable and can be legally provided, in the context of a
new-look scheme for 2008."
But the unions argue that the order to abolish the
rule of 85 was "premature" and could have been delayed until
Parliament's recess in July to allow negotiations for extending lifetime
protection to all existing members.
GMB National Secretary Brian Strutton said:
The ODPM is hoping to go further than that but it is a matter of
getting employers to sign up, which is the sticking point right now."
Unless negotiations are made now, the unions are to
proceed with their plans for regional strike action between 25 and 27
April and possible further action before the local government elections in
May.
Local Government Association deputy chief executive
John Ransford said: The key
thing now is about the discussions for the new scheme.
The statement to the House shows nothing is ruled out."
(Articles reproduced with permission of the Local Government Chronicle)
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