Pensions RSS feed for the Pensions tag
found 23 stories.
Business
Jon Griffin B'ham Mail 5 Nov 10
BBC Midlands Today presenters Suzanne Virdee and Nick Owen deserted the studios to join a Bonfire Night strike at the Mailbox, in Birmingham.
And one of Nick’s ties was also a casualty of the protest, with the broadcaster persuaded to donate the item to a Guy Fawkes-style dummy assembled to mark the BBC journalists’ November 5 and 6 picket line protest…
Business
Jon Griffin B'ham Post 27 Sep 10
Birmingham Airport’s final salary pension scheme is set to be retained in a major boost for nearly 400 workers – despite a deficit of £26million.
A “dogged” campaign by Unite the union has led to a likely partial compromise which would see a modified pension scheme still based on airport employees’ final salaries, it has been revealed…
News
Express & Star 8 Jul 10
Hundreds of public sector workers in the West Midlands are ‘double-dipping’ – drawing their pensions while still on taxpayer-funded salaries.
The practice is entirely legal and is widespread in the public sector where workers can draw their full pension from the age of 50, compared to 60 or 65 in the private sector…
Business
Express & Star 25 Jun 10
The pension black hole for public sector workers in the West Midlands has risen to more than £3 billion.
All councils in the region – Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley, Birmingham, Coventry and Solihull – pay into the pension pot…
Business
Jon Griffin B'ham Mail 17 Jun 10
Birmingham Airport is set to axe its final salary pension scheme – devastating the retirement plans of hundreds of workers.
The airport has launched a 90-day consultation programme with union negotiators in a bid to save costs after the scheme ran up a deficit of around £26 million…
News blog
Bob Piper 3 May 10
It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of Bob Tidmarsh, known to many on blogs as Bob the Black Country Brummie.
Anyone involved in community activities in Sandwell, particularly health matters, knew Bob Tidmarsh and regarded him the greatest respect and affection. If you got on the wrong side of him, whether you were friend or foe, Bob would make no distinction, he would tell you what he thought in no uncertain terms. But if Bob was in your corner, you knew you had a considerable ally on your side…
Business news
Express & Star 4 Mar 10
The full extent of the black hole in West Midland council pension funds was revealed today as a staggering £2.8billion. Nationally the deficit has risen to £53bn from £42bn the previous year. While some councils in the region have reduced their deficits over 12 months, others have seen the amount their funds are short get worse…
News
B’ham Mail 17 Feb 10
The devastated widow of a Brownhills soldier is being denied benefits because the Ministry of Defence refuses to accept an inquest ruling that he died due to depleted uranium exposure. Mother-of-two Elaine Dyson, 41, is battling for a war widow’s pension following the death of husband, former Lance Corporal Stuart Dyson in June 2008 aged 39…
News
Express & Star 1 Jan 10
Taxpayers filled a £37.8 million black hole in the pension funds of three Midlands police forces in just one year. West Midlands Police received a special Home Office grant of £14.9m to help it meet its pension costs – up from £5.3m on the year before…
Business news
The YamYam 23 Sep 09
Council Tax payers in Stoke-on-Trent are facing a massive £2 million bill to cover the pensions of just eight Serco managers – and this raises serious questions for Walsall.
Serco took control of children`s services in the Potteries in 2007 on a three year contract that expires in April. It has now emerged that small print clauses in the complex contract make Stoke-on-Trent Council liable for any shortfall in the pensions of senior Serco managers. The eight managers are thought to include Ged Rowney, Director of Children`s and Young Peoples Services, and his deputy, Nigel Toothill, former Assistant Director for Access and Inclusion at the then Education Walsall.
Offered lucrative final salary local government pensions as part of their attractive recruitment package, the Serco managers asked Stoke Council to place any new contributions into their existing West Midlands Local Government Pension Fund (WMPF) carried over from their previous contract with Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council.
Now, as the Serco contract comes to an end, the WMPF has informed Stoke Council that it is liable for a £2 million shortfall in the Serco pensions fund caused by poor stock market performance and must make up the balance before April. In an attempt to protect jobs and services, council officers are trying to negotiate a deal to repay the shortfall in installments. In August, Serco reported a 33% rise in profitability. In the six months to June, pre-tax profits rose to £83.4m from £62.8m in 2008. Share-holders earnings rose 35 per cent to 12.46p and the dividend rose by a quarter to 1.85p. Shares in Serco went up 27.3p to 482.3p. Earlier this year, Christopher Hyman, Chief Executive of Serco Group plc said that the recession “was good for Serco business.”
Stoke LibDem Cabinet member for resources, Councillor Kieran Clarke said the public sector pension was a key incentive in recruiting the management team.
“It was a necessary and normal part of the package offered by Serco to its staff,” he said. “The £2 million figure is not just the pension accrued at Stoke-on-Trent, but also the employees’ pension entitlements from previous local government service.” He added: “We will continue to do everything we can to reduce the liability and to minimise the impact on council finances.”
Stoke-on-Trent South MP, Rob Flello, described the shambles as “obscene”.
He said: “I am outraged. If we were saying goodbye to Serco after they had done a fantastic job then I might be able to stomach it, but under these circumstances it just seems obscene.”
There has been severe criticism of Serco in the five towns over the proposals for the city’s £250 million Building Schools for the Future programme. Parents and councillors have complained of a lack of adequate consultation and an imposition of policies against the wishes of the public. In April this year, the popular and successful Trentham High School was saved from closure by the last minute intervention by the then School`s Minister Jim Knight. Serco wished to close all secondary schools in the city and re-open them as Academies. Following the successful 18 month campaign by parents and students, Serco removed Trentham from the B.S.F. proposals just a few days after the reprieve and the school will now not be part of the project.
The winding up of the Serco contract in Stoke is certain to have ramifications for Walsall Borough Council. It remains unclear at this stage if Walsall is liable for part of the £2m shortfall in the payments due to the eight Serco managers or if any potential costs are included in the estimated budget deficit. More importantly, Walsall Council chiefs may need to examine the 12 year contract signed with Serco to see if similar clauses are hidden away in the small print. Future administrations in Walsall will need to consider the financial consequences to council tax payers when the contract ends or if the situation should arise that the contract with Serco needs to be terminated.