Page 11


 


 


NEWS


 


 


Pay


 


On 1 September 2014 all teachers in England and Wales should receive the 1% cost of living award recommended by the School Teachers’ Review Body.


 


This will represent the fourth year of significant cuts to pay as a result of the Coalition Government’s public sector pay policy of pay freeze and cap.


 


As a result:


 


• a newly qualified teacher has received £2,551 per annum less in their salary;


• a teacher at the top the lower pay range has received £3,729 per annum;


• teachers on the upper pay range have received between £4,040 per annum and £4,344 per annum less.


 


This has been exacerbated by year on year increases in pension contributions and rises in the cost of living.


 


But the Coalition Government has plans in place to depress teachers’ pay even further. It is proposing that from September 2015 the annual cost of living award should also be linked to teachers’ performance.


 


read more www.nasuwt.org.uk/Pay


 


 


Pensions


 


The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) has published the ‘as at March 31st 2012’ valuation of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) for England and Wales.


 


This differs from the ‘as at 2008’ valuation which the NASUWT has been pressing for as part of the trade dispute with the Secretary of State for Education, partly because the key assumptions which determine the outcome of the valuation have changed because of the Coalition Government’s reforms to the Scheme.


 


The outcome of the valuation is:


 


• notional assets of £176.6 billion;


• notional deficit of £15 billion.


 


The key financial assumption responsible for the deficit is the discount rate (which determines the amount by which the unfunded public service pension schemes grow), which the Coalition Government reduced from RPI + 3.5% to CPI + 3% in April 2011.


 


The NASUWT demonstrated, at the time, that there was no economic justification for reducing the discount rate.


 


It is clear from the figures provided that this change in the discount rate (the long-term financial assumptions) has taken £23.2 billion out of the TPS.


 


Without the Coalition Government’s reduction in the discount rate the TPS would be £8.2 billion in surplus.


 


This vindicates the NASUWT’s long-held view that the reforms to the TPS were unjustified and were simply an opportunity to plunder teachers’ pensions to swell the treasury coffers.


 


As a result of the TPS valuation, employer contributions will increase in September 2015 by 2.3%, a smaller amount than the increase teachers have already endured.


 


The NASUWT has demanded that the Government funds this increase to avoid cuts in school budgets, but to date, the Coalition Government has refused to give an undertaking to do so.


 


read more www.nasuwt.org.uk/Pensions


 


CONTINUE THE FIGHT ON PAY AND PENSIONS


 


Implement fully the NASUWT industrial action instructions


 


Go to www.nasuwt.org.uk/IndustrialAction


 


 

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20