Editor's Comment – Only the elite get fat-cat public sector pensions

Published: 17th March, 2011
EDITOR'S COMMENT

FAT cats can be found everywhere. Not only in the City, but also at the executive level of local authorities.

It depends how the words “fat cats” are defined, of course, but if one is at the bottom level of pay, those at the top, whether they are earning £200,000 or one or two millions a year, can be said to fit the description.

In this sense fat cats can be found at Camden’s Town Hall. Trade unions representing council staff tend to gloss over this and concentrate on the plight of the vast majority of lower paid employees (see page 21).

However, the Coalition government hell-bent on reshaping public services out of all recognition – sending them off in the direction of the 19th century – is now drumming up a storm over pubic sector pensions.

It is undeniable that the top salaried staff at most town halls end up with gold-plated pensions.   

This should be accepted at the outset and cannot be justified while levels of pay both at the Town Halls and among council-taxpayers slop about at the bottom of the league.   

Certainly, not while the  pay differential among staff of local authorities can be in the region of more than 15 to one.

However, the accusation – fired without let-up by the tabloids – that the vast majority of public sector staff retire into uplands with gold-plated pensions is simply not true.

By and large, the averagely medium paid public sector staff retire with reasonable pensions – often in the area of £10-15,000 a year – and no more.  

And considering this economy is said to be one the wealthiest in the world, these are not unreasonable pensions. Those who draw several hundred thousand a year, even millions, are the fat cats.

We wonder whether the government is masterminding the fat cat onslaught because it knows that it will not be possible for large private companies to take over the down-sized “privatised” local authorities if staff are able to retain something akin to their current pension levels, however modest they are, in our opinion.

This was more than hinted at by John Cridland, director general of the Confederation of British Industry in an article this week.