Two workers affected by the proposed changes explain why they are taking action.

THE COLLEGE LECTURER

ALAN CHAPE, the chairman of the Stockton Riverside College branch of the University College Union (UCU), came into teaching at the age of 32, having previously worked in the private sector.

The Northern Echo: Alan Chape, college lecturer

Now 57, he calculates he could lose £85,000 over the course of a 25-year retirement under planned pension changes.

His partner, a teacher at Teesside University, could lose close to £325,000, he said.

“That is a significant amount of money,” said Mr Chape.

He said the teachers’ pension scheme was operating at a surplus, with more money going into the fund than was paid out and claimed it could continue to be self-funding for the next 50 years.

Mr Chape said: “It is easy for people to say teachers retire on big fat pensions.

“But there are actually very few who retire on a full pension. At the moment I could retire at 60, but I would not receive a full pension.

Under the Government’s proposals, I would not be allowed to retire until the age of 65 and to get a full pension I could not retire until 66.

“For me, having worked all my life, that is a sudden and sharp shock.”

Mr Chape criticised the “multi-millionaires” in the Government cabinet, along with MPs who he said did not have to contribute to the same extent to their pension scheme.

He said “As a so-called baby boomer, I have worked through the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties to build up the wealth of this country to the benefit of those who have had privileged backgrounds on the back of it.

“We have a number of ministers in Parliament who are millionaires who have never said they are prepared to give up their publicly-funded pensions.

“So if you are going to talk about what is good for the country, they need to justify their own positions.”

THE TAX OFFICE WORKER

HAZEL BOYLAN, from Redcar, who works in a tax office in Thornaby, Teesside, said she will have to pay up to £45 extra a month into her pension plan as a result of planned changes – money she can barely afford.

The Northern Echo: Hazel Boylan, tax office worker

Mrs Boylan, who has four children, also fears she may have to work until she is 64, rather than the previous retirement age of 60.

The 54-year-old said: “Something has got to give.

Everything is going up and becoming more expensive.

“I live in Redcar and have to travel to Thornaby each day and petrol is so expensive.

“We have had a two-year pay freeze and will have another two-year freeze.

There is no extra money for me to find.”

Mrs Boylan, who has been paying into her publiclyfunded pension for 14 years, said her children were now grown up, but she had been looking forward to spending more time with her four grandchildren on her retirement.

She said: “It scares me that I may have to work longer. I had been looking forward to retiring so I can help my family by looking after the grandkids.

“By the time I get to 64, the retirement age could go up again.”

The tax office worker said she was bitter at the uneven treatment bankers and others had received from the Government.

She said: “The bankers – we bailed them out and they still have their jobs, their pensions and their bonuses.

“I pay my taxes, but there are companies and individuals out there who are not paying their tax bills, which means billions of pounds we are not collecting.

“It is the working classes who are being shafted and I am sick of it.

“In particular, I feel really sorry for the youngsters who are just starting out in terms of what they will have to face when they get older.”