Danny Alexander accused of ‘bullying’ Holyrood over teachers’ pensions

SCOTLAND’S largest teaching union has accused Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander of attempting to “bully” the Scottish Government over controversial pension reforms.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said a letter sent by Mr Alexander to finance secretary John Swinney represented an “undue level of interference” in the Scottish negotiations.

Last month, the union suspended plans for a strike after the Scottish Government agreed to talks on the subject of pension reform. While pension reform is a matter reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government has a degree of flexibility on aspects of the changes, such as accrual rates.

Larry Flanagan, the EIS general secretary, said: “Danny Alexander’s letter to the Scottish Government is an attempt to bully Scotland into falling into line with the Tory Liberal Democrat coalition’s plan to make teachers work longer.

“Although firefighters, the police and the armed forces are to be allowed a retirement age of 60, teachers’ pension schemes are to be linked to the state pension age meaning that even the current retirement age of 65 for new entrants will be stretched further.”

He added: “We expect the Scottish Government to resist this Westminster imposition and to treat teachers, and other public sector workers, fairly.

“A failure to do so will almost certainly result in further industrial action in our schools.” Nearly three-quarters of members of the EIS who took part in a ballot in March voted in favour of taking industrial action.

But the union said it would delay any strike action after agreeing to enter into formal discussions with the Scottish Government and local authorities regarding the future design of the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme (STSS).

Mr Alexander said: “Lord Hutton recommended over a year ago that normal pension age should be linked to state pension age, with a lower age for uniformed services. We have been very clear that this should apply to all schemes to manage the rising costs of people living longer. The Scottish Government themselves accepted Lord Hutton’s recommendations as a basis for negotiations with trades unions last year.

“The Scottish Government has significant flexibility in their discussions, including on the rate at which pensions are built up each year, earnings revaluation for active members and arrangements for those choosing to retire earlier or later than their normal pension age.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The finance secretary has written to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury seeking further clarity on the UK Government’s plans.

“Previous statements by UK ministers made it clear that the Scottish Government was free to design schemes which suit Scotland’s needs and we have entered into negotiations on that basis in good faith.

“The UK government is now seeking to place legislative restrictions on our freedom to negotiate with our own workforce, which damages our ability to ensure a fair and equitable agreement taking into account all views.”