By Sally Guyoncourt Local government workers in Scotland are to fare better than their English counterparts in the pension stakes. The Scottish Executive has announced plans to bring in ‘transitional protection’ for existing members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) when the Rule of 85 is removed in October. The executive claims rule – allowing scheme members to retire with an ‘unreduced’ pension anytime after the age of 60, if their age and service total 85 – has to be removed to comply with European law. But it is offering ‘transitional protection’ until 2020 for existing members who would have benefited. In England, similar protection is only being offered until 2016. Finance and public service reform minister, Tom McCabe, said: ‘We have undertaken an earnest search for legal and affordable protection for current members. Crucially, any proposals also had to be fair and address members’ concerns. I believe the proposals we are putting forward meet those aims – this is a specific solution tailored to Scottish circumstances.’ The plans are now out for consultation until the end of the month. Scotland’s public sector has been hit by a wave of strikes since proposals to scrap the rule were announced. Unison, the largest Scottish local government union, responded with caution to the executive’s latest plans, saying there was still a judicial review pending into whether the Rule of 85 should be removed. However, Joe Di Paola, Unison’s Scottish organiser, said: ‘It is interesting to see the executive has moved away from completely following the dictates of Westminster, and is proposing increasing the number of existing members of the LGPS who will have the conditions they signed up for protected.’ Meanwhile, new figures obtained by The Scotsman newspaper have revealed Scottish councils have spent £95.7m on redundancy, severance and early retirement payments from 2001-2005. mjnews@hgluk.com
