Chancellor ignites pension debate

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Chancellor Gordon Brown has said that there is still "a lot of work" to be done regarding public sector pension provisions and the retirement age of public sector employees.

Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual conference, the Chancellor said that the deal that will see public sector workers reach state pension age at 60 and private sector workers 67 is still open to discussion.

Mr Brown said: "On the public sector settlement a lot of work has still to be done."

The word from Downing Street is that the system would work due to the way private sector pension schemes and public sector employees currently operate.

The government has claimed that 40 per cent of private sector pension schemes allow for retirement at 60, and that due to the frequency with which public sector workers change jobs, the state pension age for a lot of them will rise to 65 in the next ten years.

Mr Brown said that many younger public sector workers may have to accept a later retirement age of 65 in the future, despite the government's recent announcement that existing public sector workers could retire at 60.

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