Government plans to make members pay for pensions shambles

In correspondence from the Treasury, PCS was told that the cost of remedying the McCloud judgement – which found that the government had discriminated against members based on age – should fall on members’ shoulders. This contribution the government is asking members to make to their pension will wipe out the 2% overpayments they are still owed from the government and have been owed since 2019. So far from rectifying the situation, ministers have made it much worse.

This latest development has caused anger across the public sector unions and an application for a judicial review has been made jointly with GMB, FBU, POA and Royal College of Nursing. Members can still write to their MP and ask them to support this application and the pensions campaign more broadly.

PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka said: "This cynical move to shift the burden of their incompetence and cruelty onto hardworking scheme members is an outrage and we will fight it tooth and nail.

PCS has been clear that it’s the government that caused this mess and it’s the government who should clear it up.”

Taking the fight to the government

It’s obvious that this government has no intention of giving you the justice you deserve after years of the great pensions robbery. We understand the further anger this will generate among members and we want to utilise this strength of feeling as we take the fight to the government.

We need as many people as possible to get involved with the national consultative ballot on pay and pensions, which runs from 14 February to 21 March. This is a vital opportunity for the union to assess readiness for a statutory ballot later in the year. It’s also a great chance for you to tell us how you want to get involved and what you’re willing to do to help. We’re asking all members to make sure their contact details are up to date – log into PCS Digital - so we can reach out to as many of you as possible during the campaign.  

Thousands of you have already used our pensions robbery calculator, which sets out in stark detail just how much you’re losing out. We’re encouraging those who haven’t used it to do so and share their results on social media and with their MP through our e-action.

If you want to know more about pensions, read our web story that sets out the basics and explains what PCS is doing to right this wrong.