The gold-plated pensions costing taxpayers £400m a year
Taxpayers are spending more than £400m a year on gold-plated pensions for just 10,600 judges, new analysis shows.
The average member of the Judicial Pension Scheme now receives £37,000 in pension contributions for each year of work, before being handed almost £40,000 a year in retirement.
They have built up £4.5bn in taxpayer-funded pension entitlements, but pay up to 7pc towards the cost of their retirements.
The figures come despite major reforms to public sector pensions in 2015 after rising costs pushed the Government to act.
The Taxpayers' Alliance said judges should be moved into defined contribution schemes, while the Intergenerational Foundation said the 'profligate pension promises' would be funded by young people.
There were 10,578 members of the Judicial Pension Scheme at the end of 2023-24, according to a Freedom of Information request made by The Telegraph.
Judicial salaries ranged from £106,563 to £312,510 during the year, according to the Ministry of Justice. As public sector workers, they are entitled to guaranteed, inflation-linked pensions for life.
The scheme's 6,162 working judges paid in 4.1pc of their salary on average. As their employer, the Ministry of Justice then added another 51.1pc at a cost of £229m.
The required employer contribution increased to 62.6pc from April last year to keep pace with the rising costs of the scheme, but the amount paid in by employees has remained the same.
Before 2012, judges did not have to contribute to their personal pensions and only paid towards benefits for their dependants.
The scheme's pension payouts are also more generous than other key public sector schemes, with retirees receiving £39,400 on average – costing taxpayers another £180m a year, taking the total bill to £409m.
By comparison, the average pension was around £16,600 for teachers and £12,300 for Armed Forces personnel, falling to £11,400 for NHS workers and £9,900 for retired civil servants.
Liz Emerson, of the Intergenerational Foundation, said: 'Younger generations can only dream of similar pensions, but they will end up paying for these profligate promises via higher taxation, later retirements and lower pensions themselves.
'At the very least, the Government should levy National Insurance contributions on annual pensions that are higher than the average earnings of working-age adults.'
Public sector pensions already cost the UK £54.3bn a year, despite being moved away from final salary schemes in 2015 amid fears they had become unaffordable.
Payments are now based on a worker's average earnings, but the final salary entitlement for existing members was extended to 2022 after a legal challenge from members of the judicial and firefighters' pension schemes.
Under the new system, judges have 2.5pc of their salary added to their pension each year, which is more than teachers, civil servants, NHS workers and Armed Forces personnel.
John O'Connell, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: ' Public sector pensions are extraordinarily generous with employer contributions, often outstripping those in the private sector.
'But what makes them particularly generous is the fact that they are gold-plated schemes, not based on the value of a pension pot, but on the average earnings of the employee, meaning they get topped up above and beyond what has already been contributed.
'On top of this, they are unfunded, coming not from an investment scheme, but general taxation. At the very least, ministers should be moving all public sector workers onto fully-funded, defined contribution schemes which are based on monies actually paid in.'
A report published last year by the University College London Judicial Institute revealed that more than one in three judges planned to quit the profession within five years, citing poor working conditions and a continual loss of net earnings amid a backlog in the country's courts.
The Senior Salaries Review body recommended a 4.75pc pay rise for members of the judiciary for 2025-26, but the Lord Chancellor reduced it to 4pc.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'The Judicial Pension Scheme 2022 is designed to encourage top legal professionals to become judges who are vital to keeping the justice system running.'
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BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
Politics at Glastonbury a 'festival within a festival'
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Daily Mail
32 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The unassuming terraced house next to an award-winning fish and chip shop is a BROTHEL - so what goes on behind closed doors, as one resident reveals: 'Punters can see into our kitchen'
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This means it is competing for any passing lunchtime trade with Kerry's Fish and Chips, two doors down on the corner - which still proudly announces how it was voted best chippie in Ilkeston in 2011. The street around Spangles is a mixture of residential and business with an accountants office, Thai restaurant and Polish supermarket as well as a legitimate massage parlour. Staff at the Headrock ladies hairdressers and the Simply Beauty parlour immediately to the left of Spangles had no idea of what lurked on the other side of their walls until this week. One woman having her hair set said: 'I just thought it was a normal house.' Yet a cursory glance at Spangles' official website would leave them with no doubts about what actually happens within. 'Experience the luxury of our exquisite massage services provided by the finest masseuses in the industry' trumpets the Spangles homepage. 'With a perfect blend of elegance and style, our talented ladies are dedicated to delivering an exceptional no-rush service that guarantees you will leave with a smile. 'Each day, we feature two or more enticing masseuses, showcasing a diverse selection of beauty—from slim and leggy blondes to voluptuous brunettes. 'Whether you prefer curvy or slim, tall or petite, our team, aged from their early 20s to late 30s, is here to cater to your desires and provide a rejuvenating experience tailored just for you. 'Indulge yourself and let us take care of you!' The girls who have suitably exotic names like 'Tia', 'Isabella ' and Sienna' are pictured in various states of undress, some leave very little to the imagination while others are a little more demure, though all faces are either hidden or blurred. Spangles includes a schedule of which girls are available on which day. When MailOnline called this week, the two masseuses on duty were 39-year-old blonde Lisa, who is seen nude in her publicity photo but covers her modesty with a large coffee table book and brunette Heidi, 26 who poses topless in white and black lingerie. Both thankfully are 'fully qualified in Level 3 full body massage'. However when we called the mobile number given on the website we were told that Heidi had gone home for the day and only Lisa was available. A 15-minute 'quickie' was £60, we learned, while a half-hour session would cost £80 or £90 if the client wanted a room with an en-suite bathroom to wash up in afterwards. So is all this legal? Technically no. Under British law, a brothel is classed as any premise - be it flat, house or massage parlour - where more than one person sells sexual services. Although It is not illegal to sell sexual services or work in a brothel it is an offence to 'keep, manage, act or assist in the management of a brothel.' The sentence is a fine or seven years in prison. Assisting in the management of a brothel can include keeping books, paying bills, holding keys and handling and logging money coming in from clients. But in reality, these long-standing laws are rarely if ever enforced. This is because the latest guidance from the National Police Chiefs' Council states: 'Brothel closures and raids create a mistrust of all external agencies . . . it is difficult to rebuild trust and ultimately reduces the amount of intelligence submitted to the police and puts sex workers at greater risk.' But even if no one is going from Derbyshire police is going to be knocking on the shop door anytime soon - the stigma attached to the business, because of its nature, is obvious. A young mother who asked not to be named lives in a flat close by with her young son and said that over the course of the last two days some 20 or so men had visited the brothel. She said: 'You can tell them a mile-off. 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'I've known about it for about six or seven years - it's the only one I know of in Ilkeston. 'I think on average I must see about 10 punters visiting there a day - although I'm sure there's a lot more who go through the door. 'But I don't like it being so close to my home. I live here with my little son. I think it's appalling that such a place exists - I wish it would be shut down.' Apprentice electrician Alfie Perkins, 21, moved into a terraced house behind the brothel with his partner in February. They had no idea that sex workers were plying their trade there but Alfie said: 'We see men going in all the time. 'At first we thought it was a block of flats but the men sometimes wait in the yard for others to come out first. 'There's never any women. It makes perfect sense now that I know what that place is. 'My partner wants to get tinted windows at the back of the house because she doesn't like the fact the punters can see into our kitchen. 'To be fair, though, there's never been any trouble there whatsoever and there's not much noise from people coming or going from the premises. 'It's funny, someone told me the other day that there was a massage parlour around here…I didn't realise it was just behind us.' A trucker in his 50s who lives a few doors down from Alfie but who wished to remain anonymous said the brothel used ingenious ways to let punters know it was open for business. He told us: 'You wouldn't know it was even there, they're very, very discreet. 'There's no signage outside, no red-light or anything like that. What they do sometimes is one of the girls will drape fluorescent workmen trousers out of an upstairs window. It's a code that they're open and ready for business. 'I've walked past and seen the trousers myself several times. There's always a lot of activity at the back of my house with blokes heading in and out. 'There used to be music playing and in the summer with the windows open you'd hear it from the street. I think they got some complaints so they stopped. 'It doesn't really bother me too much that it's there. People using their services tend to keep a low profile… for obvious reasons.' Spangles has 56 reviews on Punternet - a US-based website dubbed the 'Blue Pages' or 'Thrustpilot' in which men compare experiences of various working women. The reviews - only a handful of which are less than positive - date all the way back to December 2006, when the business was based at a health spa and sauna above a parade of shops on the Derby Road near the centre of Nottingham, where it remained until 2018 before moving to Ilkeston. One punter - who calls himself 'andybaby' on Punternet - wrote: 'Spangles is great. Easy parking behind the shops where nobody can see you get out your car and enter. 'Nice shower and changing facilities. The rooms are basic with just a massage table but they are clean.' Another client -'hxxx' - who had half an hour with two of the girl - provided a fascinating insight into trip. He wrote: 'Spangles is a really friendly place. Everyone who works there is very welcoming and the receptionist is a star. 'The rooms are rather small (barely big enough for a massage table) and the piped radio is annoying (it was quite surreal to hear the traffic report during a live lesbian sex show) but I love this place all the same. It's safe and clean.' According to the Land Registry the house that Spangles is based in belongs to former electrical contractor turned property investor Martyn Kelk. Mr Kelk, 62, bought the property for £60,000 at auction in 2018. In 2017 his then company Premier Electrical Services - which he sold a year later - was the shirt sponsor for League Two football side Notts County. He lives in a sprawling farmhouse 20-miles from Ilkeston in the Nottinghamshire village of Owthorpe. Mr Kelk is currently in Greece on holiday but he told the Mail this week of his shock: 'I had no idea that the property was being used in such a way. 'The person who runs the business and who rents the property from me is listed on my accounts as a beauty therapist. 'Once a tenant signs the lease I don't tend to hear from them unless there's a problem. I haven't been to the site for years as it's nearly an hour away from my home. 'When I bought the property, it was in a dilapidated state and I spent a year renovating it. The person who runs the business has been a tenant for about six years, I don't have the paperwork with me so I can't tell you how long the lease has left to run. 'But do I need to kick them out? A good friend of mine is a police officer, I may have to ask him for advice.' A spokeswoman for Spangles insisted they were a legitimate massage business and strongly denied that their masseuses every carry out any sexual services. They also said they had not deceived anyone over their lease.
The Sun
38 minutes ago
- The Sun
Michelin-starred Gordon Ramsay protégé to shut his first ever restaurant after 11 ‘incredible' years of trading
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