Letter: Public sector jobs
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: David Aaronovitch's article on public sector workers made some well balanced comments ("What's the point of spending a fortune on nurses and teachers?", 28 January).
The pay in both nursing and teaching has been distorted by the callings on the various pay scales which mean that, after their mid-forties, nurses and teachers can only earn good salaries (ie comparable with non-public services activity) by moving into "management". We thus lose some of those with the best practical skills.
David Blunkett's proposals for super-teacher scales are fine, except that they will be awarded to bright young things. The older generation of teachers will be ignored and will retire on pensions which do scant justice to their contribution.
The public service pension scheme is one respect in which all careers in the public service could be made much more attractive, at little immediate cost. The scheme should cease to base pensions on "number of years' service divided by eight" (which implies the need to work for over 53 years to draw a maximum two thirds of final salary as pension), abandoned long ago by most good employers. It should be upgraded to 70ths immediately, and perhaps 60ths over the longer term. This would greatly reduce the pressure for catching up rises.
Dr A M HULME
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments