Robin Hood in Reverse

The news media reported the other day that the chief executive of NHS Lothian - Professor James Barbour - is retiring early and will be receiving his full pension entitlement.

Apparently the Prof's pension package is worth £75,000 a year - plus a one-off lump sum payment of £220,000 which is presumably tax free.

Now that adds up to me although it makes little sense - because the present rules do allow people to retire on a salary worth half their salary - and to receive a tax free lump sum worth three times their annual pension.

The present rules also mean that people retire on their final salary - which in this case seems to be around £150,000 a year - even though the good professor has been in the top top job for only ten years or so - around a quarter of his career. 

Now I'm sure Professor Barbour has been a good and diligent public servant in his time - but that doesn't mean that he is worth - to my mind anyway - an annual pension that is three time the average salary in the UK.

Nor does it seem fair or reasonable to me that senior people be pocketing such huge tax free lump sums - which must seem like winning the lottery to most ordinary folk.

Yet later this week the trade unions will yet again be striking to defend these ridiculous final salary pension schemes - which have been deliberately designed to benefit the higher paid groups of public sector workers.

The reality is that low paid workers in NHS Lothian are subsidising the Professor's retirement package - which would be much fairer if the rules were based on career average earnings.

As I've said before, the present final salary rules behave Robin Hood in Reverse - because in pension terms they take from the poor and give to the rich.

And the unions are on the same side of the argument as good old King John - and the Sheriff of Nottingham. 


Sheriff of Nottingham