The two unions pointed out in their letter that the programme of reform proposed by the Government will only be successful with the engagement of the leaders of both colleges and schools.

At the moment, the union pointed out that the teachers and staff are feeling undermined by the changes and are feeling threatened by what may happen to their pension scheme.

The changes will leave most teachers paying more, and working longer to eventually receive a smaller pension. Because of the changes, many staff are feeling demoralised claim the union.

With retirement planning such a key issue on the Governments agenda at the moment, the union do not believe weakening the quality of the pension on offer will make recruiting any easier.

50% of special needs school head teacher positions are currently vacant and the union are worried that without anyone to run the schools, they will lower their standards.

General secretary of the NAHT, Russell Hobby explained, “Public workers are doing their bit to bring our nation’s expenses under control. Teachers have already accepted a two-year pay freeze and tighter budgets. We already make significant contributions to our pension scheme and have agreed to bear the risk if it is unaffordable – but there is no evidence that it is unaffordable. Both the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee say the current scheme is working.”

Hobby added, “It’s a tough job, with 60-hour weeks and unrelenting scrutiny.”

“The pensions cuts could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. There are many ways to respond to a recruitment crisis – a pay cut is not usually one of them.”

General Secretary of the ASCL, Brian Lightman joined the protest, adding, “Pensions have already been undermined by stealth changes including the intention to increase contributions and raise the retirement age. The government’s fixation is driven by the need to cut public spending to address the national debt, not because the pension scheme is unaffordable. Changes made to pension arrangements now will affect young people’s education for years to come, when the current budget situation is a matter of history. These decisions should be based on a long-term view.

“We know that good teachers, support staff and leaders will leave the profession early if their pension benefits are cut, and it will become more difficult to recruit high quality people. The bottom line is that the standard of education will suffer because of damage to public sector pensions.”

The research found that despite Scotland being the best region in the UK for taking out Life Insurance and Critical Illness cover, when it comes to pensions, almost half of Scots are not saving enough towards their retirement.

The research found that the difference between retirement expectations in Scotland and the amount of money being set aside is vast. Scottish Widows also found that three quarters of those working in Scotland between the state pension age and 30 wanted to retire by 65 at the latest.

Only 12 per cent of those asked in Scotland revealed that they were willing to work until the age of 70, whilst that number was 20% in the UK as a whole. Scots believe that they will be able to realistically retire at 62.

The Edinburgh based company conduct a UK pensions report every year, and this is the seventh they have produced. Each different report has shown that the gap between what Britons are saving, and the amount they want to retire on is continuing to grow.

75% of Scots asked recognised that they needed to take more responsibility for their retirement finances, although the Scottish savings ratio, the percentage of income being put aside for a pension, has fallen to 9.2%, just below the UK average of 9.3%/

Scottish Widows feels that this number needs to increase above 12% for a comfortable retirement, and explained the average worker in the UK needs to be saving an extra £58 a month towards their retirement.

Only 52% of Scots are saving enough money towards their retirement, and when you take away those in a final salary scheme through work, that then becomes just a quarter. 20% of Scots are failing to save any money at all towards their retirement.

Scottish Widows believe that automatic enrolment into workplace pensions from next year will encourage more people to start thinking about their savings.

Unions who represent public sector workers have been planning to hold a large scale strike later on this month, with June 30^th muted as a possible date, in protest at the government’s spending cuts on their pensions.

Pensions are the only issue over which unions can organise mass strike action, although Cable has warned that he could be forced to create stronger legislation should they decide to go ahead with their walkout.

Cable, who was interrupted several times as he spoke to the GMB union’s annual conference in Brighton, as he appealed for the strike action, which he claimed would cause “widespread disruption” to be avoided.

Cable said, “Despite occasional blips, I know that strike levels remain historically low, especially in the private sector. On that basis, and assuming this pattern continues, the case for changing strike law is not compelling.

“However, should the position change, and should strikes impose serious damage to our economic and social fabric, the pressure on us to act would ratchet up.

“That is something which both you, and certainly I, would wish to avoid.”

Loud jeers could be heard from the audience in response to all of his comments.

The CBI employer’s organisation and Boris Johnson have both already called for tougher rules surrounding strike action. Johnson only wants strikes to be permitted when they have the majority backing of union members.

Cables plans involve removing many public sector workers from their gold plated final salary schemes and putting them on career average ones, saving the government billions of pounds in the process.

Government figures show that they believe the number of people who fall into the higher rate taxpayer category will increase from 31.million in the 2010/11 tax year to 3.7million in the 2011/12 tax year.

They also expect the number of taxpayers who pay the 50% additional rate tax to increase as well, by 12% from 246,000 to 275,000 in the same period.

Sipp provider, A J Bell revealed that their financial advisors are urging customers to invest money through their pensions contributions, as this is one of the best ways of obtaining tax relief for those paying 40 and 50% tax.

Marketing manager, Billy Mackay explained, ‘We’ve already seen a 170% increase in single contributions into our Sippdeal and Sippcentre accounts in the first month of the financial year compared with the same period last year.’

‘With the number of higher and additional rate taxpayers on the increase it is no surprise that many are planning their pension contributions carefully to reduce the tax that they pay. The level of contributions that someone can pay into their pension scheme is limited by the annual allowance,’ he added.

Taxpayers will also benefit from a simpler system from the 6^th April 2012, which will see the annual pensions tax free contribution limit sit at £50,000 for everyone, instead of the current system that sees special annual allowances for certain earners.

Taxpayers will also be able to use up any unused allowance from the last three years, meaning they could save £25,000 for the first three years, and then £125,000 in the fourth year tax free as they are using their unused allowance from the previous three.

The same scheme will work backwards for those who haven’t saved more than £50,000 in the last three years.

‘Allowing pension investors to carry forward three years unused allowances is a positive and popular change as it introduces opportunities to effectively plan and maximise your pension contributions and the tax relief available to you,’ explained Mackay.

Richard Gnodde will join the unit as their third co-head in a move which is seen as an attempt by the company to step up their presence outside of America.

Investment banking is no longer Goldman Sachs biggest earning division, but the company is refusing to drop it completely, and still see’s it as vital to maintaining their position.

Also joining the team are Yoel Zaoui, head of European investment banking, and Gene Sykes from Los Angeles, as global co-heads of M&A. Leaving are Gordon Dyal and Christopher Cole.

Chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein joined president Gary Cohn in writing a note to all the other employees explaining,  “These important changes reflect the continued importance and growth of the firm’s global client franchise and the contributions that both Richard and Gordon have made to the firm and the investment banking division.”

The bank has been making changes frequently in the past few months. In March Michael Sherwood succeeded Mr Cohn as chairman of their partnership committee, and in January Michael Evans moves from being their Asia chairman to head of emerging markets.

Goldman Sachs are making the changes after a business standards survey which revealed that the banks senior management were worried that the backlash after the economic crisis has hurt the companies standing with corporate customers around the world.

“Clients raised concerns about whether the firm has remained true to its traditional values … given the changes to the firm’s size, business mix and perceptions about the role of proprietary trading. Clients said that in some circumstances, the firm weighs its interests and short-term incentives too heavily.”

Looking for advice on your personal finances? do you have a pension? perhaps savings? all can be reviewed by our specialists, contact us today on 0800 678 5929.

While government has emphasised the increased flexibility for pension savers, who can now retain ownership of their pension savings rather than hand them over to a pension company to purchase an annuity, government will also raise the tax due when funds from pension schemes are left to children and heirs. As a result, the flexibility to pass on your pension savings to your children will now involve tax rising from the current 35% to a flat rate of 55%.

In other words, pension savers will forfeit over half of any portion of their pension savings they leave in their will.

In reality, most people will still find purchasing a pension annuity to be the more attractive option, although it is no longer compulsory. However, new EU rules known as Solvency II will require pension companies and providers of pension annuities to hold more capital in reserve, which may cut annuity rates, with a corresponding onward effect on pension incomes.

The government is also reviewing public pensions, which is has called unaffordable, and a final strategy will emerge with the Hutton Report before the March 2011 budget. This is likely to usher in higher employees contributions to public sector pensions, and a continuing changeover from the generous final salary pensions to defined contribution pension schemes.

Teachers, firemen and nurses are likely to be hardest hit by the upcoming review of pension schemes.

Many thousands of pensioners are failing to claim their entitlements to pension credits, which could currently cost them over £30 per week in lost state pension benefits.

The situation has been highlighted by the Government, as pensions minister Steve Web has begun a pilot scheme using HMRC data to identify and contact pensioners entitled to pensions credit, but who were unaware or simply not taking it up.

The pilot scheme will focus on 2,000 randomly chosen pensioners, in an effort to improve awareness and uptake of pension credits alongside the basic state pension, and to improve pensioners’ overall pension income. Given that the focus group of 2,000 is just a sample of those failing to claim their full state pension entitlements, the clear implication is that the total number of pensioners currently losing out on part of their state pension entitlements could be much greater.

At present the basic state pension is £97.65 for a single person, but if that person has less than £10,000 in savings or other income they may be eligible for pension credits that could top this up to a maximum of £132.60. For over-65s there is an additional pensions credit payment of £20.52 for a single person, and £27.09 for a couple.

Eligibility for pension credits is established by means-testing, and it has long been suggested that many pensioners fail to take up their full state pension credits because they are simply uncomfortable with the prospect of having to admit they are in need.

In the longer term, the pension credits system may eventually be abolished if the government goes ahead with plans for a higher, flat-rate basic state pension of £140 a week for all.

Unclaimed pension credits currently account for over half  of all unclaimed benefits for pensioners.

UK pensioners are increasingly being forced to draw on their savings, as the rising cost of living has cut their pension income by over £700 a year in the last 2 years.

New research by Age UK is based on a new inflation measure, dubbed the ‘Silver Retail Price Index’ or Silver RPI, which shows that pension income is particularly badly hit by the ongoing rises in inflation, as pension incomes tend to be spent on those basic goods most affected.

The implication for younger pension savers is that forward thinking, good pension advice, and retirement planning is now needed, to ensure that pension funds are well invested to provide the best possible returns on retirement.

Ordinary savers also affected

Ordinary savers in the UK are also under pressure, with the average household now needing an additional £1,100 to maintain the same standard of living they had two years ago.

Figures from Sainsbury’s Finance showed that inflation has cut deep into the resources of Londoners in particular, who now would need to find an extra £1,342 a year to restore their standard of living to 2008 levels, while in other parts of the UK the typical figure would be around £951 (the figure for the North-East).

Consumer price inflation in October was 3.2%, according to the Office for National Statistics, driven largely by rises in fuel costs.

Consumers seeking ways to minimise the impact of inflation on their income can seek independent financial advice on tax-advantaged savings options, such as ISAs, from their independent financial adviser.

The rise in the general state pension age to 66 by 2020 could cost today’s over-50′s up to £14,000 in lost pension income, according to figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The lost income consists of payments of the basic state pension that will be lost during the extra time working.

This will be increased by the pension savers’ inability to save enough to keep their pension income at the same level as it would have been, without the changes.

As the state pension age rises, some 4.5 million men and women will be forced to work a year longer than they previously would have.

The figures have provoked a critical response from industry experts, who claim that the workers worst affected could lose 9% of the total pension they could previously have expected to receive.

Women in particular will be adversely affected by the changes, according to Ros Altmann, a former government pensions adviser and now spokesperson for the over-50s group Saga.

“These changes are dramatically unfair and completely unacceptable. They penalise at least half a million women, making them wait an extra two years for the state pension, and even the Government itself admits they will not have time to prepare ….. a rethink is essential,” Ms. Altmann said.

The report has highlighted again the need for pension planning and good pension advice for all those affected by the ongoing review of workplace pensions in both the public and the private sector.

The Department for Work and Pensions has revealed that 30% of those in the UK who are saving in a company pension scheme have no idea what their employer is contributing to their pension. The report has highlighted an urgent need for independent pension advice among UK workers, who may be unable to predict whether they will have sufficient income to match their retirement expectations.

The DWP report also found that in the private sector, 59% of people do not currently pay into the pension scheme offered by their employer.

Employees who do not understand the breakdown of their total pension contributions will also be unable to compare their company pension scheme with the government’s NEST scheme, to be launched from 2012. The NEST scheme will be based on pension contributions of 8% of salary, made up as follows: worker 4%, employer 3%, government 1%.

NEST will offer a company pension for almost all workers, and, in order to overcome ‘pensions inertia’, workers will be automatically enrolled in the scheme, which will be gradually implemented and fully operational by 2017.  Every worker over 22 and earning more than £7,425 per year will be eligible for the NEST.

Employees will be enrolled into NEST after three months of working for their employer. This delayed start reverses a previous plan to enrol workers from day 1 of their employment, and is designed to facilitate companies which use a high proportion of summer workers or casual staff.