The government have offered to negotiate over the proposed changes to public sector pensions, but if papers leaked to the Guardian are anything to go by, they are planning to undertake almost all the ideas put forward by ex Labour minister, Lord Hutton. The alterations could seriously affect the pensions of teachers, civil servants, nurses and members of the armed forces, countrywide. New pension schemes will see them working longer hours, making bigger contributions and retiring later in life – these will be among the biggest cuts ever made to state pensions.

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Initially, the proposals were meant to be privately made to unions but the leaked information shows that the government will be asking over 6million workers to pay more into their pension pots, and then receive less as a final salary benefit when they reach retirement. Many unions, upon being made aware of these changes, are anxious to do something in response to try and avert what has been labelled as ‘an attack’ on their futures.

Unions representing 750,000 civil servants and teachers are already considering industrial action, with a date tentatively set for June 30^th. Several other unions have decided to wait until all their members have been balloted at the end of May, but there are very few who are happy with the proposals, and even those holding off a decision are said to be angry with the government ministers for moving ahead without any real negotiations.

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Information leaked to the Guardian newspaper reveals that the retirement age is set to rise to 66 for state workers, and final salary pension schemes are likely to be phased out altogether. Employees can now expect to be paying up to 3.3 percent more in contributions, and changes to rates of accrual means that some people could end up working up to a decade longer to receive half of their average yearly earnings.

Although this has been called a ‘discussion paper’, the general feeling is that the government has already made up its mind and public sector unions are very worried for their members, as the cuts are far deeper than anyone expected. Ministers working on the negotiations have spoken about civil service pensions, assuring workers that they would be honoured, but blaming longer life expectancy on the fact that pensions are becoming a much more costly affair.

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