Public sector pensions report calls for rise in workers' contributions

[Hopeless Romantic]

ix million public sector workers will have to pay more for their pensions – meaning they will take a de facto cut to their pay packet within months – after a government-backed review concluded that their contributions should go up.

The former Labour work and pensions secretary Lord Hutton, who was asked by the government to conduct the inquiry, also recommends raising the retirement age for public sector pensions in the longer term and ending the "inherently unfair" final salary schemes.

The chancellor, George Osborne, will now have to decide how much more doctors, nurses, teachers and council workers will have to pay, with a decision expected in the comprehensive spending review on 20 October.

Hutton does not recommend introducing pension contributions for members of the armed forces, who currently pay nothing into their schemes.

The report describes how some public sector schemes date back 200 years and are now completely out of step with 21st century demographics, with many people now spending 40% of their life in retirement.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/07/public-sector-pensions-report-contributions