17 March 2006
Up to 1.5 million local government workers will embark on a series of strikes starting on March 28 and leading up to May's local elections, nine unions have announced.
The announcement follows 'yes' ballots for strike action over proposed increases to the earliest retirement age in the local government pension scheme.
Unions have accepted that a rule enabling long-serving scheme members to retire at 60 must go, but they demand lifetime protection from the change for existing scheme members.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: 'The government must extend the same protection to existing LGPS members that it has given to all other public sector workers. To continue to refuse to do so is unfair, unjust and inexplicable.'
Local Government Association chair Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart said that the strike decision was 'disappointing', adding: 'The key aspect of these changes is to make sure the pension scheme does not cost the council tax payer any more money.'
However, the latest set of calculations by the Government Actuary Department, seen by Public Finance, found that the £5bn cost of lifetime protection could be covered by half of the savings made by removing the early retirement rule for new members.
It would take 25 years to recoup the costs that way – five years longer than public sector accounting practice normally allows – but the GAD said that 'it might be possible to justify the use of a longer spreading period'.
PFmar2006
