MPs' super-pensions
Published Date:
23 June 2008
MPs are to be congratulated in showing restraint by taking no pay rise (your report, 18 June). Let us not feel too sorry for them, however, as we have the annual value of their taxpayer-funded pension to consider.
A backbench MP on £62,000 makes around a 10 per cent contribution to his or her pension. Using current values, this would produce, after 26 years, a fund of £161,200, at which point the MP may claim a two-thirds index-linked final salary of £42,700.
To buy such a pension in the private market would require a fund in the region of £950,000, creating a shortfall of £788,000. This equates to an annual value of £30,338. Add on tax and NI and the figure becomes around £39,500.
Little wonder MPs rarely mention their own situations when debating pension reform. If really serious about setting an example, they would forego these taxpayer-funded arrangements and contribute to private pension funds, as they expect millions of private sector workers to do.
DAVID F DONALDSON
Lawers Crescent
Polmont, Stirlingshire
The full article contains 186 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
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Last Updated:
22 June 2008 8:11 PM
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Source:
The Scotsman
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Location:
Edinburgh
