Cost to your pension of a strike

Sometimes PCS members approaching retirement worry about the effect upon their pensions of taking strike action, especially in their final year, pointing out that the pension is based on the best of the last 3 years of service. As your pension has to last you for the rest of your life, this concern is quite understandable. However, PCS in the NW has looked into the matter and can confirm that this is a needless worry.

Firstly, the effect of a strike on your pension is identical whether that strike took place 35 years ago or last week. This is because your pension is calculated on your gross salary, which does not reduce because you have been on strike.

The other part of the pension calculation is the total number of days you will have worked for the department when you leave. Common sense tells us that one day is a minuscule percentage of the total.

To get a good idea of the effect of a one-day strike on your pension, simply divide your gross salary by 292. This will give the yearly loss in pence (before tax).

For example, an EO earning £23510, divided by 292 = 80.5p a year, or 1.5p per week, before tax.

The effect on part-time or part year workers is not quite so easy to calculate, but even if you use the full-time equivalent of your salary, you will see the figure is negligible.

For convenience, here is a ready reckoner:

Gross salary	Loss in pence per year (before tax)
£10,000	34.2p
£11,000	37.7p
£12,000	41.1p
£13,000	44.5p
£14,000	47.9p
£15,000	51.3p
£16,000	54.8p
£17,000	58.2p
£18,000	61.6p
£19,000	65.1p
£20,000	68.5p
£21,000	71.9p
£22,000	75.3p
£23,000	78.8p
£24,000	82.2p
£25,000	85.6p

Conclusion

PCS members who are heading towards the end of their career need not worry about the effects of a strike on their pensions, as the loss will be a couple of pence per month.

Members close to retirement may be worried about the impact on their lump sum. We believe the financial impact would also be minimal. If the employer threatens to withhold this payment (where they have made the offer in writing) PCS will support members who wish to challenge this. It may very well be an idle threat given the deductions from pay of over 80,000 members of staff to process!

We hope this puts your mind at rest, and confirms that you can easily afford to support the PCS campaign for jobs, services and pensions, no matter how close you are to leaving. Don’t forget that you will still have a vested interest in the outcome ~ at some point after you retire you’ll need the services that PCS members provide.