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DAILY EXPRESS 14.1.09
MPS' PENSIONS COST 25% MORE... AND GUESS WHO'S PAYING
By Gabriel Milland Political Correspondent

MPs are set to help themselves to even more lavish pensions using 
taxpayers' cash.

New figures have revealed that an extra £2.2million was poured into 
their scheme last year compared with 2003 - a rise of almost 25 per 
cent.

They already enjoy pensions described by one expert as "probably the 
best in the world".

Extra cash was poured into the MP-only scheme because the Treasury 
had not provided enough in the past.

Tory leader David Cameron has promised that he will reform MPs' 
pensions so they receive unpredictable "defined benefit" schemes like 
most taxpayers.

Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond said last 
night: "We need to end the pensions apartheid that exists between the 
public and private sectors. Moving new MPs on to a defined-
contribution scheme is a crucial first step in any wider reform of 
public sector pensions."

An MP with just 20 years' service can now expect to receive an index-
linked payout of £30,000 a year when he or she retires.

The revelation that more money has been paid into the MPs' scheme 
came as it emerged that pension plans for ordinary workers are facing 
their biggest crisis in decades.

Pensions campaigner Ros Altmann yesterday also said it was time to 
end the unfair system. "MPs are the ultimate example of the public 
sector pensions aristocracy. Their scheme is the most generous in the 
land," she said.

Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesman Paul Rowen, who obtained 
the figures, said: "Many private sector pensions have lost up to 30 
per cent of their value in the last few weeks yet those of MPs are 
copper-bottomed and guaranteed regardless of the state of the economy.

"This extravagance is an insult to hard-pressed taxpayers and should 
be reviewed. MPs need to tighten their belts."

A total of £12million in taxpayers' money was paid into the MPs' 
scheme last year, compared with £9.8million in 2003. MPs were only 
asked to contribute an extra £700,000.

Figures released last year showed that Gordon Brown now has a 
personal ministerial pension pot of £274,000, worth £19,000 a year 
when retires. The Justice Secretary Jack Straw's pension pot is worth 
£294,000, which would pay out £20,520, while Chancellor Alistair 
Darling's is worth £235,000, paying out £16,400.

The average private sector pension is worth just £25,107.   Senior 
Whitehall mandarins do even better than MPs.

The permanent secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions, 
Leigh Lewis, has a pension pot worth £1,881,000, up from £1,567,000 
last year. His counterpart at the Home Office, Sir David Normington, 
has seen his increase from £1,541,000 to £1,785,000.

Yesterday's figures showed that overall "employer" contributions to 
MPs' salaries are worth almost 27 per cent of their pay.    Even the 
best private sector final salary schemes rarely reach 14 per cent.

It also emerged yesterday that £253,000 out of £402,000 in pension 
overpayments to 177 MPs who had received too much money had been 
written off.   Chris Bryant, deputy leader of the Commons, said 
overpayments of less than £500 would be too expensive to recover.

A spokesman for the leader of the House of Commons, who oversees MPs' 
pensions, said: "The Government is bound to follow the advice of its 
actuaries department on funding MPs' pensions."

Away from Parliament, a new set of figures showed that nine out of 10 
defined-benefit pensions faced a funding shortfall totalling more 
than £200billion at the end of last year.

The Pension Protection Fund - which provides a safety net when 
companies go bust - said 6,914 schemes hit by the falling stock 
market had a deficit in December, against 6,690 in November.

Virtually all private sector final salary schemes have closed to new 
members. Many have also been shut to new contributions from existing 
members. But public sector staff still have access to schemes that 
promise guaranteed payouts on retirement at 60 or 65.

The total deficit that now faces the schemes is an astonishing 
£209.6billion - equivalent to 20 per cent of the value of the entire 
British economy.   The big falls are likely to mean trouble for 
household names with big pension liabilities.

Consultants Watson Wyatt said firms would now have no choice but to 
close their schemes to existing members.    John Ball, the firm's 
head of consulting, said: "It is a trend that is likely to pick up 
this year.

"Resistance from employees, unions and trustees is likely to be lower 
in an economic downturn, especially if presented as an alternative to 
job cuts. If a few more household name companies take this step, 
there could be a snowball effect."