WIREDGOV

With the Commons public accounts committee confirming today that recent changes to public sector pensions will reduce future costs, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said:

"I met ministers yesterday with colleagues from the TUC and other unions and made it absolutely clear that PCS does not accept the need for any further cuts in the value of public sector pensions.

"Everyone who has now looked at this issue, including the National Audit Office and Lord Hutton, has confirmed that changes we agreed in 2006 mean our members’ pensions are affordable now and in the future.

"The current government, however, appears oblivious to this fact and seems determined to plough on with spiteful and totally unnecessary cuts to pensions that will only serve to increase spending on welfare for impoverished pensioners.

"Our members are now receiving ballot papers for a national strike over planned cuts to their pensions, as well as jobs and pay, and if this government continues to ignore us and the other experts, I fully expect a resounding vote for a strike."

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