Pension costs not disputed

Published on 7th February 2008 in Letters

Sir - Whilst I do not wish to comment on the rights and wrongs of Walter Staniforth's decision to withhold part of his council tax, what I do find astonishing is that nobody from the ERYC is actually disputing his figures. Is it really true that over a quarter of my council tax goes into the ERYC pension pot?

I work in the private sector and to keep my pension scheme viable we had to increase our personal contributions by one per cent last year. Perhaps we local taxpayers would get more 'value for money' from the ERYC if we knew that one of the biggest employers in the region was also looking at ways to reduce their staffing costs.

However, having recently seen two posts advertised at over £50k per annum, which over ten years equates to £1,000,000 in wages alone, I seriously doubt it.

Paul Nightingale

The Vinery,

Howden