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Positive Action Group considers that a core principle of Government is that it should aim for “a fairer society for all”.
PAG believes that the Hymans Robertson Report, commissioned by Government to present design proposals for a unified pension scheme for Manx public sector workers, will be massively divisive for society as a whole, creating a “pensions apartheid” situation:
- where the public sector will enjoy the benefit of a “gold plated” final salary pension, retail price indexed, with low employee contributions and heavily supported from tax revenues,
- whilst the 80% of society not in the public sector, paying the bulk of those tax revenues, will have only the state pension to look forward to, or for those in company schemes, the benefits of a “money purchase” pension likely to give only a modest pension at best.
PAG has a long list of concerns with the Hymans Robertson report, believing that it is flawed in its comparisons of public / private sector total remuneration, and has been rendered outdated by the “credit crunch” of mid 2008 onwards and its impact upon the private sector (with increased redundancies, reduced bonus payments etc), as well as the general economic slowdown which has resulted.
Thus, PAG’s submission to the Consultation Exercise just finished, is highly critical of the proposals. Essentially, the Hymans Robertson report protects the interests of the public sector at the expense of the rest of society, whilst Government makes no proposals – and has no vision - for an equitable pensions policy for society in general for the 21st century.
PAG Committee Member, Chris Blyth, and spokesman on this issue, says that “the argument we make is that it is still possible to avoid a future in which many of our elderly are currently destined to live in poverty – but to make it happen will require an enormous amount of political will, vision, leadership and integrity on the part of our Government. The challenge is there, but does Government have the necessary courage to grasp it ?”
Submission in full
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