Should Public sector employees opt-out of public sector pensions and get private sector ones?

Good question. They are quite able to freeze their existing arrangements and take out a personal pension if they wish. However it would be literally impossible to find a provider offering as much as they have at present.

Tough, welcome to the real world. The old chestnut they use about pensions being part of their wages is rubbish. They are well aware that the general public, through local taxes, pay for part of their pensions.

No taxpayer has ever paid towards my works or personal pension, other than the general old age pension which everyone gets of course. I was a union member all my working life, so I am not closet Tory, and will back the working man in most disputes, but when a dispute is not justified I will not agree to it. Edit.

Steven.... If your average figures are correct then they are over 300% better than my personal private pension which I paid into for 32 years and over 400% better than the works pension I paid into for 45 years and no other taxpayer paid anything towards those pensions so think yourself lucky if you can look forward to such pensions. The rest of your comments are so rubbish I will not justify them with further comment. Edit.

Terrier.....You comment about living on £7,000 but don't forget they will also have their old age pension of around £7,500 so £14,500 is more than some people are presently getting while working full time at the moment. Edit. Hoarsema.....Save your breath, you will never educate greedy people because they do not want to understand.

All they see are £ signs at everyone elses expense.

It's £ 7, 604 per year! The average public sector is £7, 841. THESE ARE TAXED.

Now do you believe in contractual law? IF I make a contract to pay you £25 per week, you would expect it, as I've signed a contract. IF I turned round and told you, sorry can't afford it, so I'm only paying you £ 15, you would accept this then?

I'll try me gas company shall I? In the 1970/80's when the private sector was doing much better pensions than the publicsector, I don't remember the Private sector arguing that the publicsector should get more? The shares have stopped spiralling, that is why the prviate pensions went belly up.

I had an agreement that I would accept lower wage for 40 years and I would get a maximum of half my final salary....you went for your money up front and didn't look after your pension. BUT now you want me to pay for your mistakes! You choose private because you got more money, during th eprevious 40 years where the private pension scheme outstripped th epublci one you where happy.

"just like the rest of us", did NOT aplpy when you got paid did it! BUt don't worry, as you've fallen for the lies, over 1,000 increased their personnel wealth by over 4 billion last year AND got a tax reduciton, but lets make the cleaning lady pay for JP Morgans incompetence!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.