Pensions

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The Royal College of Midwives Board decided yesterday (19th January 2012) to consult members before deciding to accept or reject the Government’s proposed changes to the NHS Pension Scheme. The RCM will wait to consult with members until the Heads of Agreement is finalised. Members should be aware that the Heads of Agreement is the best that can be achieved through negotiation. Rejection would imply the need for serious and sustained industrial action because in all likelihood the Government would then impose changes to the pension scheme.

RCM General Secretary, Cathy Warwick said:

“We are seeking the views of members so that the RCM Board can make a final decision. The RCM will continue to campaign on the issue of working longer because we remain concerned that the vast majority of midwives will not be able to meet the physical and mental demands of the profession when they are nearly seventy and they may not be able to provide the care that women expect and deserve. In a survey of RCM members taken last year 91% of respondents disagreed that they should be forced to work until they are 68.”

“The Government has not explained why it has chosen to protect the uniformed services (the police, the fire service and the armed forces) and allow them to retire earlier but they will not give this protection to NHS workers. We do not believe that NHS workers should be treated differently from other emergency workers and we believe that the vast majority of the public would agree that midwives and other NHS workers should not be forced to work till they are nearly seventy given the nature of work that they do.”  

“As part of the proposals the Government has agreed to set up a tripartite review to look into the impacts of working longer. The RCM will use this opportunity to campaign for midwives and other NHS workers who since they provide a 24 hour emergency service, make life and death decisions and work in physically demanding jobs should be treated the same as the  emergency services and have a protected retirement age.”

“The RCM will consult with members as soon as the final details of the proposals have been completed; however we urge the Government to reconsider it’s position on retirement age as this is not consistent with how they have treated emergency workers and we do not believe that it is fair to NHS workers or the public that need and depend on the NHS.”  

IDS/RCM Pensions Survey

Incomes Data Services (IDS) has prepared a report for the RCM of the results of an on-line membership survey to gauge RCM members’ attitudes to the proposed changes to the NHS Pension Scheme. Results presented in this report are based on 6,100 usable responses to the on-line survey, collected during September and October 2011.