She is calling on the Government to give all workers the same level of protection rather than singling out some groups for special protection.
Slamming policymakers for not having ‘a sufficient grasp of financial reality when it comes to pensions’, Altmann says, adding they have heaped further liability for pensions on the public purse in the rush to shore up the banks.
Altmann says Northern Rock, Bradford and Bingley, RBS, HBoS and Lloyds pension schemes have been protected in full by taxpayers. The Northern Rock pension deficit is over £100m. Bradford and Bingley’s deficit is another £100m, with just 350 active members of the scheme, while deficits at RBS, HBoS and Lloyds are over £4billion.
Altmann says: “I call on the Government to ensure all workers have the same level of taxpayer protection, rather than singling out some groups for special treatment. We need a consistent approach to pensions and an independent inquiry into the long-term funding burdens that are being imposed on future taxpayers by policies that suit the short-term interests of today’s policymakers.
“The Government has not provided any justification for this unequal treatment and one has to question whether policymakers have a sufficient grasp of financial reality when it comes to pensions.”
