Date: 30 July 2007

Pensions consultation welcomed by UNISON

UNISON today welcomed the start of the consultation on the new Scottish Local Government Pension Scheme. The unions representing members of the Local Government Pension Scheme have been involved in the tri-partite discussions on the new scheme, and today they said that there were still some issues to be resolved.

Mike Kirby, UNISON's Scottish Convenor said "We welcome the progress so far, and the fact that there are a number of improvements, but there still remain some areas of concern.

"We still want to discuss the way that increased contributions impact on members - particularly how to make the contributions more progressive, the position of people who need to retire for ill-health reasons, and especially the governance of the new scheme, and how its members can have a direct input into its running.

"The unions will be running a number of consultation events over the summer and autumn to get the views of members and responding to the consultation."

ENDS

Note to editors: The timetable and circumstances of the Local Government Pension Scheme are different in England and Wales, but proposals for a similar new LGPS in England and Wales were recently approved by UNISON members by a majority of 97.1%.

For Further Information Please Contact: Mike Kirby (Scottish Convenor) 07803 952 261(m) Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

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