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TUC leader rejects pension 'myth'

12:18am Thursday 30th July 2009

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The TUC has hit back at attacks on the pensions of public sector workers, describing claims that they were unaffordable as a "myth".

The union said critics such as business groups, right wing pressure groups and opposition politicians were "misrepresenting" figures by presenting future commitment to public sector pensions as an enormous final demand bill that has to be paid in one go.

Public sector pensions cost less than state pensions and no easy, quick savings could be made from changing the current level of payments, the union said.

Most public sector pensioners received a "modest" pension of less than £5,000 a year, although the figure was £4,000 for local government workers and £3,500 for half of women on NHS pensions, said general secretary Brendan Barber.

He added: "Many private sector employers have cut or abandoned decent pensions for their staff. The result is that many people at work today will face a big drop in their living standards when they retire.

"Now employer groups and opposition politicians are saying that public sector pensions should be levelled down so that Britain's nurses, teachers and other vital public sector staff should face the same hardship when they retire.

"Each day seems to bring new dodgy statistics and scaremongering about the cost of public sector pensions, along with bogus claims that there are easy public spending cuts to be had.

"The public sector is rightly a big employer and giving its staff a decent pension - as all employers should - does not come free. But the costs of public sector pensions are affordable, they are not out of control and far from paying out fat cat sums the majority of public sector pensions are under £5,000 a year."

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