Pensions - Articles - Pensions scaremongering unhelpful to devolution debate

 “Devolution is an extremely difficult issue and it is important to consider the facts behind the debate. Unhelpful scaremongering hides the real issues.

 
 “As regards pensions, the European Directive puts forward that EU cross-border schemes are fully funded, but it is inconceivable that some transitional easement would not be applied. Indeed, this transitional easement should be a key priority as part of any implementation of devolution. In addition, it does not necessarily follow that Scotland would even be admitted to the EU within the timeframe proposed following a “yes vote” and so may not even be affected by the EU Directive.

 
 “Whilst universities and charities represent sectors with emotional attachment, there is no logical reason why charities or universities would automatically be in a special high-risk category. All employers that would fall under the banner of cross-border schemes would immediately be affected.

 
 “The real issues are around the increased administrative complexity of providing cross-border schemes, the necessity for establishing new schemes to cope with the problems, and membership transfers between the two member states. This should be the area of debate not scaremongering around deficits having to be filled overnight.”