Philip Hammond is threatening a £4billion cut to frontline services to pay for a rise in pension costs for public sector workers
Experts said the move would fuel concerns the Government plans to pay for the £20bn NHS bonanza by raiding departments’ existing budgets
THE Chancellor is threatening a £4billion cut to frontline services to pay for a rise in pension costs for public sector workers.
Government departments face a mammoth bill as people live longer.
In a Commons document, Treasury Minister Liz Truss said: “The early indications are that the amount employers pay towards the schemes will need to increase.”
She says the Treasury will support departments with any unforeseen costs for 2019-2020. But she notes: “Further discussions will be taken forward as part of the Spending Review.”
Experts said the move would fuel concerns the Government plans to pay for the £20billion NHS bonanza by raiding departments’ existing budgets.
The Government forced departments to pump more into the pension schemes of NHS workers, teachers and police two years ago.
Insiders said the new change was down to longer life expectancy and forecasts for slower economic growth – meaning lower returns on money put aside now for retirement.
Former Lib Dem pensions minister Steve Webb said: “Treasury sleight of hand means that frontline public services like hospitals and schools are going to face a squeeze.”
Mr Webb – now policy chief at Royal London - added: “If the Government wants the NHS to have an extra £20billion a year, the public will expect this money to be spent on improved health care, and not have a chunk handed back to the Treasury to pay for higher pension bills.”
The Sun Says: A Just Cause
REMEMBER Theresa May promising to help the “just about managings”? What a lot of guff that now seems.
Her dismal Chancellor looks to TAKE their money instead at every turn.
Philip Hammond now intends to scrap both a £435million tax cut for White Van Man and a scheme that has helped 100,000 hard-up Brits start a business.
We know he has to wipe out the deficit and find NHS money. But they cannot be at the expense of everything else.
Hammond’s tunnel vision blinds him both to working people’s woes and the damage that his thoughtless penny-pinching and stealthy hikes do to the Government’s standing with voters.
The JAMs’ pay is too low and their costs far too high, housing and fuel especially. They are piling up credit card debt to stay afloat.
The next Budget must put more cash in their pockets. If it finally did so, slashed the aid bill and invested in Britain instead, most would applaud it.
Help the JAMs, Mrs May. Now or never.
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