 Re: pension for pharmacist by RPSGB
Pensions are part of a remuneration package. I am sure that Boots and Lloyds etc have company pension schemes I know we offer our employees a company pension scheme. It is a legal requirement that staff are offered at the very least a stakeholder pension.
Teachers pensions are paid by their employers and as it is the Govt. they are generous schemes and yes usually that is compensation for compromised salaries in the first place. Teacher's professional bodies do NOT pay pensions so it is inappropriate that the RPSGB do.
Hospital and PCT pharmacists are in the NHS pension scheme and Pharmacy academics are paid pensions from the department of education.
Pensions do have to be contributed to so how many here would want to pay into a RPSGB pension fund and trust them with your retirement income?
I thought not.
The RPSGB scheme for all employees is a legal requirement. As members of the society we are the employers and technically responsible for the pensions of the staff (NOT I must point out, the elected members of council. They get nothing out of the pension fund). As with all pension schemes since Gordon Brown abolished tax relief on dividend income for pension funds in his first ever budget (1997), the RPSGB has struggled to meet it's obligations to it's pensioners. The Citizens Advice Bureau is in danger of folding due to it's pension liabilities and many big companies have had to endure strike action as they struggle to offer the same benefits as they previously did with their pensions.
The RPSGB had a plan in place to gradually address pension shortfalls at as little cost to the membership as possible. However, Lord Young announced that the RPSGB would split into two bodies by 2010. As all pension funds will be transferred at that point to the successor bodies, it is a legal requirement that they are paid up to date. That was the reason for the sharp increase in fees.
Don't blame the RPSGB council who had no vested interest in this process other than to comply with the law. Blame Lord Young for the time frame.
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