Some public service employees are being told how much extra they will be expected to pay in pension contributions from April 2012.
The extra contributions for NHS workers, teachers and civil servants come as the government looks to shave £1.2bn off its pension bill next year.The maximum increase will be 2.4 percentage points from April.
The changes to pensions have met with stiff opposition from workers, some of whom have staged industrial action.
Plans The proposals affect 2.5 million workers. They relate to NHS workers and teachers in England and Wales, and civil servants in England, Scotland and Wales.
The government has estimated that 750,000 staff earning less than £15,000 a year will not pay any higher contributions at all.
Those earning between £15,000 and £21,000 (up from the previously suggested limit of £18,000) will pay 0.6 percentage points more from next April.
However, for teachers, the Department for Education, in its own consultation response, has proposed that this is extended to those earning up to £26,000. This is designed to deter newly-qualified teachers from leaving the scheme.
In general the government wants those earning more than than £21,000 a year to pay up to 2.4 percentage points more. This, for example, would take the total contribution to a maximum of 5.9% for civil servants earning more than £60,000.
Civil servants earning well in excess of £150,000 are expected to pay £260 a month more in contributions.
The additional contribution rates for civil servants, which have also been published, kick in at a lower salary level than the proposals for teachers. For example, at a salary of £30,000, teachers will provide additional contributions of 0.9 percentage points, but civil servants will face an additional 1.6 percentage points. However, civil servants' existing contribution rates are generally low in comparison.
The Treasury said that the proposals would deliver savings of £530m in the NHS pension scheme, around £300m from the teachers' scheme and £180m in the civil service scheme.
The government has already said it is going to consult scheme-by-scheme on its planned increase in contributions in stages over the next three financial years.
But a union leader accused the government of "playground games" by making the announcement on April's extra contributions now.
"We entered into the scheme-specific talks on public sector pensions in good faith and we genuinely believe we are making progress, albeit slowly," said Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison.
"But these talks are being put in jeopardy by the crude and naive tactics of government ministers who do not seem to understand the word negotiate."
'Blatant tax' The government is trying to implement the recommendations of Lord John Hutton, the former Labour pensions minister.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has previously outlined plans for further additional contributions in later years, but these are all subject to negotiations with unions along with discussions about pension ages and structures. However, the most recent proposals have prompted an angry response from a doctors' group.
"This is nothing about deficit reduction and the affordability of public sector pensions. This is just a blatant tax on pensions," Hamish Meldrum, the chairman of the British Medical Association, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"As far as we know, this money is not going back into any pension scheme, it is going to the Treasury.
"This is not the way to negotiate with reasonable people. It is no wonder public sector workers are angry with these knee-jerk announcements that come out of the Treasury."
He said the NHS scheme went through a major reform three years ago, when contributions increased significantly.
'Difficult' negotiations Mr Alexander said the details of April's rising contribution rates would be subject to 12 weeks of consultation, but they ensured that the taxpayer contribution would be kept under control.
"These are difficult times for everyone - public sector workers included, we are ensuring that those with the broadest shoulders will bear the greatest burden," he said.
"The lowest paid will be protected, and the highest paid will face the biggest increases."
However, the union representing senior civil servants said the plans for contributions were "completely unjustified".
"The FDA has made clear to the government that we will continue - as will the majority of unions - to explore every avenue towards reaching a satisfactory agreement, both on contribution rates and on the issues raised by Lord Hutton in his report on future pension scheme arrangements," said Jonathan Baume, the general secretary of the FDA union.
"These negotiations will be complex and difficult. However, if we are not able to reach agreement then industrial action is possible."
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