NUT: Judicial Review on the Indexation of Public Sector Pensions
Commenting on the judicial review on the indexation of public sector pensions, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said:
"The NUT, along with other unions, is challenging the Government in a judicial review at the High Court. We are challenging the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions' decision to change the basis on which certain public sector pension benefits, including teachers' pensions, are up-rated from the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). Our involvement underlines the Union's commitment to seek every possible means to resolve our pensions dispute with the Government.
"In our view the change of indexation from RPI to CPI is an attack on accrued rights and a clear breach of manifesto promises. The CPI is not a true measure of increases in prices and appears to have been chosen simply because it is a lower figure.
"The change from RPI to CPI also affects state benefits and pensions, and is now being followed in some private sector schemes.
"Worryingly, the Government has given no justification for the change other than that they consider CPI indexation to be ‘more appropriate’. This flies in the face of evidence from the Royal Statistical Society that inflation is higher for older people than for society as a whole."
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