Robin Hood in Reverse
The Scotsman newspaper provided a timely reminder the other day - about the perverse 'Robin Hood in Reverse' nature - of 'final salary' public sector pensions.
As regular readers know such schemes work on the principle - that the pension poor subsidise the pension rich - with benefits depending on what people are earning when they leave their jobs.
Not how much they have actually paid into the pension scheme - during their working careers.
Here's a extract of what the Scotsman had to say:
"Almost £50 million in taxpayers' money was paid out in redundancy payments to Scottish civil servants last year - with at least 117 people receiving golden goodbyes worth over £100,000.
The lavish payments saw two senior mandarins receive packages worth over £250,000 when they quit their jobs.
Union leaders and opposition politicians last night questioned the largesse of the public sector after the figures came to light in the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts for 2010-11, which were published yesterday.
The Scottish Government last night refused to disclose who the highest rewarded civil servants were. But two of the most high profile individuals to leave last year were Sir John Elvidge, the former permanent secretary, and Robert Gordon, the head of the former justice department.
Elsewhere in the accounts, it was revealed that Sir John will receive between £70,000 and £75,000 per year plus a lump sum of between £300,000 and £305,000. Mr Gordon will also receive an annual payment of between £70,000 and £75,000 plus a slightly smaller lump sum of between £215,000 and £220,000.
In total there were 1,039 "exit packages" of non-compulsory redundancies - totalling £49m - handed out to civil servants."
Now the strange thing is that while the trade unions and opposition politicians like to give the impression that they're hopping mad.
Yet - in practice - they say nothing about the underlying problem - the practice of 'final salary' pension schemes.
Do they come straight out and say they support the much fairer system of 'career average' schemes - where what you get out at the end is directly linked to what people pay in?
No they don't - so take what they say with a huge pinch of salt.
One thing's for sure - the vast bilk of the £50 million of public money spent on 'early exit packages' - will have gone to the much higher paid civil servants.
As regular readers know such schemes work on the principle - that the pension poor subsidise the pension rich - with benefits depending on what people are earning when they leave their jobs.
Not how much they have actually paid into the pension scheme - during their working careers.
Here's a extract of what the Scotsman had to say:
"Almost £50 million in taxpayers' money was paid out in redundancy payments to Scottish civil servants last year - with at least 117 people receiving golden goodbyes worth over £100,000.
The lavish payments saw two senior mandarins receive packages worth over £250,000 when they quit their jobs.
Union leaders and opposition politicians last night questioned the largesse of the public sector after the figures came to light in the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts for 2010-11, which were published yesterday.
The Scottish Government last night refused to disclose who the highest rewarded civil servants were. But two of the most high profile individuals to leave last year were Sir John Elvidge, the former permanent secretary, and Robert Gordon, the head of the former justice department.
Elsewhere in the accounts, it was revealed that Sir John will receive between £70,000 and £75,000 per year plus a lump sum of between £300,000 and £305,000. Mr Gordon will also receive an annual payment of between £70,000 and £75,000 plus a slightly smaller lump sum of between £215,000 and £220,000.
In total there were 1,039 "exit packages" of non-compulsory redundancies - totalling £49m - handed out to civil servants."
Now the strange thing is that while the trade unions and opposition politicians like to give the impression that they're hopping mad.
Yet - in practice - they say nothing about the underlying problem - the practice of 'final salary' pension schemes.
Do they come straight out and say they support the much fairer system of 'career average' schemes - where what you get out at the end is directly linked to what people pay in?
No they don't - so take what they say with a huge pinch of salt.
One thing's for sure - the vast bilk of the £50 million of public money spent on 'early exit packages' - will have gone to the much higher paid civil servants.
