I received my wage slip last Wednesday and was dismayed to see that despite the hype I was actually worse off than I was last month.

How can that be? After all, the government has made much of the fact that’s it’s taken more people out of the tax threshold to make them better off.

Sadly, in the public sector, not only have we seen no pay rises on top of a cost of living crisis, but this government has also increased our pension contributions, so we pay more, while the employer pays less.

This leaves me poorer, with less money to spend in my local shops.

The alternative is to come out of the pension scheme, thereby missing out on that small amount my employer contributes in lieu of paying me a bit more now.

It would also mean that when I retire the tax payer would have to pay to keep me out of poverty as the state pension alone isn’t sufficient.

I keep hearing I’m better off and things are on the up, but this certainly isn’t reflected in what I have in my bank account.

JO RUST

King’s Lynn

Via e-mail