The new local government pension deal

With perfect timing considering the threatened doctors' strike over their pensions the Local Government Association and the town hall unions have announced today at midday their own agreement over pension reform after months of negotiations.
On the face of it, it's a good deal all round especially for lower paid workers. The biggest surprise is that local government employers have agreed that council staff transferees can keep their pensions not just after transferring to a private sector or non-local authority employer but after further transfers as well. At the moment the decision to keep on paying final salary pensions is a matter for the employer.This flies directly in the face of attempts by the Cabinet Office to make it easier for private companiies, mutuals and the voluntary sector to take on council staff without being saddled with large pension liabilities. The impact of this could be huge especially for smaller companies and mutuals which may find the costs make any bid for services unpalatable.
But council employers don't do badly out of the new pensions deal either. From now on pensions will be decided on career average pay rather than final salary and based on the Consumer Prices Index. They will also be paid at whatever the state retirement age is, rather than 65. Contributions for the higher paid will go up.Overall lower paid employees come out well from the new deal. As their wages tend to rise far more modestly over a career than senior managers the career average criterion should make little difference to their final pension. If they transfer to a new employer their pensions are protected. And they will not be hit by having to make higher contributions.

What's concerning is the low turnout

So what are the headlines from these local elections? Is it that Labour has done surprisingly well in southern England and Wales. Or is it that the electorate has decisively voted against directly elected mayors? Or that the Lib Dems have been trounced? Or that the turnout is the lowest in 12 years? Or that :Labour is likely to lose what it should have expected to gain, namely the Mayor of London? Or that fringe parties and Respect have picked up votes but not the BNP?
All of these. But above all else the lack of voters' faith in politics to solve their problems anymore. After two years of cuts, rising unemployment and a squeeze on living standards, one would have confidently expected a voters' angry backlash against the government of the day, a wholesale slaughter of Tory and Lib Dem seats. It has happened to the Lib Dems but not the Tories. Labour has done well but half way through a government which has undergone a month of wobbles and bad management decisions on top of economic woes one would expect the opposition party to do well.
The electorate has expressed its discontent by abstaining. Some 70% of people did not bother to exercise their vote. The electorate appears to believe that however dire the economy it is beyond the power of politicians to make any impact. Ironically just as localism is being trumpeted as the next stage of involving people in decision-making the people have decided that decisions are being taken elsewhere globally over which they have little control.