Civil Service Pensions and the Pre-Budget Report
In his pre-Budget report on 9 December 2009 the Chancellor made reference to public service pensions being ‘capped’ by 2012. The Chancellor said: … by 2012 contributions by the state to public service pensions for teachers, local government, NHS and the civil service will be capped – saving around £1bn a year. Public sector workers will make a greater contribution to the increasing value of pensions, with those earning over £100,000 paying more.”
Some media have interpreted this as cuts to Civil Service pensions. This is not correct. Cabinet Office has written to civil servants in GB to clarify the position in relation to the Home Civil Service (HCS) Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme.
Civil Service Pensions has prepared an Employees Pensions Notice to update NI civil servants. In the Northern Ireland Civil Service the Principal Civil Service Pensions Scheme (Northern Ireland) operates on the basis of parity with the HCS Scheme. Therefore the practice has been to introduce the same pension provisions for the NICS as applied to the HCS, subject to Ministerial approval
