Letter: Pension blow

Scottish teachers put 6 per cent of their hard-earned incomes into their occupational pensions scheme. An important benefit of the scheme is index linking.

This was explained well in a government publication in 1993. The Scottish Office Pensions Agency stated: "In the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme your benefits are fully inflation-proofed. Your pension (including any preserved pension) is increased annually in line with increases in the cost of living so that its original purchasing power is maintained."

This reads like a contractual promise. In April, HM Treasury told us there would be no increase in 2010. This week inflation has reached 3.7 per cent, so it is clear this decision will lead to a reduction in the value of pensions, in direct contravention of assurances in government publications.

It is significant that this decision was taken in London by Treasury officials serving a Labour government whose leader, throughout the election campaign, laid great emphasis on his party's devotion to "fairness".

Apparently it is fair that the burden of the nation's massive debt, incurred by a combination of banking greed and governmental incompetence, should be placed on the shoulders of pensioners. It is to be hoped that the new government will recognise the iniquity of thisdecision and order the Treasury to reverse it.

IAIN HALL

Georgina Place Scone