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Dundee City Unison
Dundee Branch of UNISON
Members of the Local Government Pension Scheme were "contracted out" but were meant to still earn full National Insurance contributions towards their state pension.![]()
In 2016, the Tory government retrospectively cancelled that protection leaving many short of full years. Most should have earned back missing contributions by now but if you are not sure, check your National Insurance record on the Government website.![]()
www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record![]()
There was always a 6 year limit to paying back missing NIC but the 2026 changes saw this temporarily extended back to 2006.![]()
April will see the end of people's ability to pay back beyond the last 6 years.![]()
This BBC article explains what you can do if you are worried about meeting that deadline.![]()
BBC News - State pension: Deadline for National Insurance top-ups softened - BBC News![]()
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99n1550510o
State pension: Deadline for National Insurance top-ups softened
www.bbc.co.uk
A looming deadline for people to plug NI gaps, to ensure they get the full state pension, has been eased.
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📢 Audit Scotland: ASN Support Staff Overworked & Undervalued 📢![]()
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Audit Scotland (the independent public spending watchdog) has published a damning report on additional support for learning (ASL) in Scotland’s schools. It confirms what UNISON has been saying for years – support staff are overworked, undervalued, and ASN pupils aren’t getting the help they need.![]()
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Key findings:![]()
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🟢 40% of pupils now require ASN support, but resources haven’t kept up![]()
🟣 PSAs are doing more without proper training, accreditation, or fair pay![]()
🟢 Councils and the Scottish Government must rethink ASN provision and funding![]()
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This is a wake-up call. UNISON will keep fighting for proper funding, support staff recognition, and safe working conditions.![]()
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📰 Read the full article here: ![]()
www.facebook.com/share/p/1E2ZWKPWr5/
Audit Scotland publishes ‘damning’ report on support for ASN pupils
www.tes.com
There’s an ‘urgent need for improvement’, says the watchdog - as it questions whether schools can cope with the almost eight-fold increase in additional support needs pupils
Note that there will be new round/scheme of Voluntary Severance/Voluntary Early Retirement discussed at next Tuesday's (4th March) City Governance Committee:![]()
1drv.ms/b/c/1e69380c485191af/EXAEwl7p45FKnio7w41d6k4B7FaHITg_wsmwdwaTeiAcCQ?e=uNuoim![]()
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There is a problem building up with the issue of VER and the impact of the loss of the Rule of 85 and increasing pension ages.![]()
Although when I started with the council back in 1992, shamefully workers who did less than 30 hours per week (predominantly women) had only recently been given access to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). In 1995, the Tories then began to raise women's state pension age from 60 to 65 (now 67 for all and heading north - despite reducing life expectancy).![]()
Then, from 2008, because of dodgy Tory Shire councils in England taking pension contribution holidays , so they could offer lower Council Tax rates, many English LGPS funds were poorly funded and the Labour government decided to reduce costs primarily by doing away with the Rule of 85 (where you could use the actual or projected age at which your service and age added to 85 as the replacement for the Normal Pension Age - then 65 in the LGPS). This was a big problem because R85 allowed many people to retire in their late 50s or early 60s without losing the roughly 5% per year actuarial reduction for every year before your NPA that you retire.![]()
As a result funds have quickly improved their funding levels well beyond the maximum needed, but instead of recognising that member benefits could be rebalanced (perhaps by restoring a slightly less generous R85), Councils have taken a saving by drastically reducing employer contribution rates.![]()
Before this, people would be glad that they had a job, say in care, where they felt the statutory nature of it meant they had little or no risk of redundancy but the LGPS with R85 meant they could choose when they retired.![]()
Very quickly, however, this has been turned on its head. The loss of R85 means that many worry about retiring early with a much reduced pension and their state pension age far away. So many welcome VER offerings as being a chance to get away without reduction.![]()
Unfortunately though, those in posts that were once cherished for their security now curse the fact that they will never be offered redundancy and that opportunity to go when they are fit enough to enjoy (and afford) their retirement.![]()
Every time a VER round gets raised, this reopens that frustration and feeling of being fleeced. To be fair, people like myself, who have needed skills and experience are similarly unlikely to get such an opportunity.![]()
When you see the figures for the gender pension gap, however, it's clear that women predominantly get a raw deal out of their work and pension choices.![]()
I note the Equality Impact asssessment suggests that there is only a marginally negative unequal impact on women (due to their likely lower accrual in the scheme) coming from this proposal but it would be useful to also see the breakdown of who has benefited from previous VER rounds and who are likely to be in or out of scope for this one, as being out of scope is also a likely predominantly women's impact.![]()
Care, for instance will be almost totally out of scope due to its statutory nature, as will many roles in Schools and Early years.![]()
That these are predominantly women's roles raises a question about how thorough any Equality Impact Assessment could have been.
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