Leaders: Public sector workers must face the realities

PUBLIC sector workers are angry, so angry that yesterday they went on strike across the United Kingdom. The reason for the action was clear: they are angered by the introduction of reforms to their pension schemes by the UK government, which they say significantly denudes their entitlement.

The level of discontent was demonstrated by the fact prison officers defied the law to walk out, leaving prisoners in Scotland confined to their cells for much of the day. South of the Border, strike action by officers is illegal. In Scotland, it is legal but the Prison Officers Association (POA) union did not give the seven days’ notice of action required under law.

In the case of the prison officers, not only are they up in arms about pensions, they have a particular problem with the requirement they say is being imposed on them to work until they are 68, when police officers or firefighters can pick up their pensions at 60. POA leaders say their members will be unable to carry out the rigorous duties required of them when they reach that age.

While these grievances are understandable, the important question is whether they are realistically avoidable. The reforms proposed by the UK government require workers to pay more into their pensions; to work for longer; and be paid a pension based on “career average” salary, not the current final-salary plan.

The reason the government acted was simple. The public-sector pensions adopted in the post-war period have become unsustainable. The harsh actuarial truth was that people were living longer, and so would have to be paid their pensions for longer. With payments often funded out of today’s public purse, not from a pool of saved contributions, the system was unsustainable.

Public sector workers would counter that their pensions were better than the private sector by way of recompense for poorer comparative pay. However, a study for the coalition government by former Labour MP Lord Hutton found this was a myth. Furthermore, it is difficult for the unions to argue the case for final salary pensions when few, if any, private-sector companies still offer such schemes.

We may not like it, but it is a fact of modern life that public- and private-sector workers will have to work longer, for reduced pensions. That will mean prison officers retiring later, though it will be some time before that is at 68. It will mean civil servants staying in their jobs a bit longer for a bit less at the end. As the private sector has already largely found out, the economic reality is that just about every worker will need to work longer and receive a little less in their pensions. While unhappiness about that is understandable, the main aspiration in this inherently unfair situation is that solutions can be found as fairly as possible, and that certain parts of the workforce should not receive exemptions not given to others.

Alarm bells over young disabled

The finding of the report for Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, that bullying and discrimination against disabled children is “prevalent” in Scottish education, is deeply troubling for two reasons.

Firstly, it might have been assumed that discrimination against the disabled, like many other forms of discrimination, was a thing of the past; that, as a society, we had moved on from the days when being different made one vulnerable to mistreatment and abuse.

Second, it might also have been assumed that modern teachers have been taught by educationalists to recognise bullying and discrimination in the classroom and playground, and nip such behaviour in the bud before it becomes a problem.

If these problems were not worrying enough, even more concerning is the finding that schools exclude disabled pupils from sporting activities, and that there are lower expectations for disabled children in achieving qualifications.

It should be pointed out that the report to the commissioner, by Professor Kirsten Stalker and Dr Lio Moscardini, is simply a review of current research, with the section on bullying reliant on a previous report for Long-term Conditions Alliance Scotland, which is more anecdotal than empirical.

Despite this, it would be unwise to claim there is not a problem of discrimination, and the report has two proposals which politicians and policy-makers should act on. There should be greater financial support through the welfare system to tackle social and economic disadvantage facing disabled children. And there is a need for a high-profile education and awareness-raising campaign.