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Press Release

Local government pension schemes are not included in the OBR pension figures

15 June 2010

There are no changes to the pension benefits to be paid to Local Government workers says GMB.

GMB, the union that represents over 300,000 public sector workers, today responded to the publication by the Office of Budget Responsible (OBR) of the new figures on the costs of some public services workers pensions.

Brian Strutton, GMB national secretary said, "The costs of the Local Government pension scheme are not included in the OBR figures that were published yesterday on the cost of some public sector pension schemes. GMB wants to make it clear that Local Government pensions scheme costs are not doubling. There are no changes to the pension benefits to be paid to Local Government workers.

The hysteria surrounding public sector pension's costs has to stop and be replaced by rational discussion. The OBR report saying that the cost of other public sector pension schemes will double is deliberating portraying a worst-case scenario. For a start these figures cover the so-called pay-as-you-go schemes and exclude the strongly positive cash flow of the local government pension scheme. Secondly, these are old statistics that were published in the spring. Thirdly they exclude plans for controlling the cost to taxpayers that have already been accepted. Fourthly the OBR fails to point out that as a proportion of GDP the cost of public sector pensions rises slightly at first but actually falls over the long term.

The new government has proposed an independent commission to look at public sector pensions yet seems hell-bent on pre-judging the outcome. Nick Clegg gave us another of his pension gaffes yesterday when he said that public sector pensions are gold plated and unaffordable. He should look at the evidence before speaking. The average council worker's pension, for example, is less than £4,000 and for women less than £3,000. Gold plated they are not.

There is a need for sensible public sector pensions reform but it has to be based on evidence and rational debate not political posturing. GMB hopes that the new independent public sector pensions commission will be what it says on the tin, ie independent, and we call for TU representation on it. In the meantime GMB points out that all the public sector pension schemes have plans ready for controlling costs to the taxpayer."



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