Been doing some research under Freedom Of Information into how much of our Council Tax is TAKEN to pay Public Service Pensions within the County,they can give an overall figure of the amount required to pay the Pensions which excludes Teachers,but they are unable to tell me how much of this is actually taken from Council Tax as in their words it is to complicated.

This is really worrying because County Councils may well in the near future be responsible for their NHS budgets in the County as well,and if they have no idea how much they take from Council Tax to pay Public Service Pensions, not much hope they are going to be able to manage many more billions of Pounds of NHS money

FS

Councils receive funding from various sources that go into General Funds out of which they pay for the costs of various services they provide and the related overheads (which would include salaries and employers contributions towards National Insurance and pensions).

Council Tax is not specifically to pay employers contributions towards pensions, as they may be funding this from their other income streams.

It would be like me writing to Tesco and asking how much of my weekly shopping spend goes towards Tesco staff's pensions

Hi take your point with the Tesco comparison.Fully take the point that Council Tax is not specifically for pensions,Councils go to great lengths to make us aware of which Public Service receives what % of the council tax we pay.however I do not accept that council;s cannot provide the information of how much of the Council Tax goes towards Council Pension Funding..Perhaps if I asked the question what is the shortfall in Public Service Pensions within the country,it will give a clue.

thanks for your reply

FS

my understanding is that pension contributions is about 4-6% of total council income

council tax is just under a quarter of council tax income

if a council funds pensions from other income streams, then 0% of council tax goes to pensions

if a council funds pensions solely from council tax, then 16-24% of council tax goes to pensions

but in reality there is no such split, which is why i suggested Tesco example

if Tesco funds pensions solely from bread sales, then 100+% of bread sales goes to pensions

if Tesco funds pensions from other income streams, then 0% of bread sales goes to pensions

although in my mind, the argument about public sector v private sector pensions has been created by the tories and right wing media as a distraction

as i see it, workers whether public or private deserve a decent pension when they retire

if private sector pensions are worse than public sector pensions (and i could spend ages explaining reasons for this such as employers taking pension contribution holidays, pillaging pension schemes and the tory attack on Trade Unions and worker rights) - we should be fighting to improve private sector pensions and making sure private sector employers pay adequate contributions so that every worker can get a decent pension for old age

id6052 Hi, you make some very good and interesting points,like wise I do not wish to get involved in a lengthy discussion/argument over private v public sector pensions

thanks for your interest

FS