Letter: Share the pain

Public sector austerity measures announced by Home Secretary Theresa May were specifically directed at the police service, whose yearly increments will be frozen and perks such as overtime scrutinised, resulting in the take-home pay of an ordinary policeman being less today than it was two years ago.

Thursday's austerity announcement by Lord Hutton (chosen because he's an independent, and defects any blame from the government or Treasury) also affects nurses, teachers and of course the police.

These sectors will now work more years and pay more into their final pension, and in the future pensions will not be settled on final salary, but based on average earnings over the years of service.

Over the next few months MPs will consider their own salaries, including perks such as mortgage interest paid on second homes, along with an extensive range of reclaimable expenses.

It will be an interesting comparison between an MP and a police officer. Will both have their salaries frozen, both lose perks and both pay expenses from their own salaries?

Will both work more years, and both pay increases to their final pensions? Will there be public service parity? Are we all in this together?

Derek Marks

Brook Street

Broughty Ferry, Dundee

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has announced much needed reform to the state pension, but those proposals are nothing short of worrying for women born in 1954 who are being asked to endure working till they are 66, losing more than 10,000 of state pension which they have paid for.

Included in the proposals are moves to require employers to enrol staff automatically into private pension schemes from 2012 to boost individual savings for retirement. This has been tried before and alarm bells are ringing but no lessons have been learned.

How many paid into a company pension scheme for years only to learn the scheme could not fund itself or had closed? Final salary pension schemes closed at alarming rates last year, affecting millions.

Many are unable to fulfil their retirement plans because they have had to continue working.

If the government is serious about pension reform, it needs to come into the real world of pension poverty and help those who really need and deserve state assistance.

Catriona C Clark

Hawthorn Drive

Banknock, FalkirkThere is little doubt that final salary pension schemes are going to be a thing of the past (your report, 9 March) as more and more schemes are forced to move to pension purchase plans which have no absolute guarantee of what your pension is going to be.

As life expectancy continues to increase both for males and females the population of retired people cannot be sustained by those who are working and paying taxes and it will mean the retirement age will also have to be reviewed upwards in line with the best estimates made by insurance actuaries.

It would be inspiring and encouraging to see our political leaders abandon their current gold-plated pension deals as an example of how we are all going to share the pain in the changing world of pension provision.

Dennis Grattan

Mugiemoss Road

Bucksburn, Aberdeen