Tories axe index link to pension

PUBLIC workers will have their pensions slashed in a bid to cut the £1.2 TRILLION bill faced by taxpayers, under new Tory plans.

The Conservatives are considering axing the link between inflation and public sector pensions to bring them in line with private ones.

And they may let State staff take their employer's pension contributions as extra on their wages instead - meaning the workers would be completely responsible for sorting out their own private retirement fund.

Tory leader David Cameron's frontbench team is looking at several options before unveiling the plans later this year.

Last night pension expert Dr Ros Altmann - a former advisor to No10 Downing Street - said it was time for a change, adding: "Public sector pensions have been immune to the economic crisis. They remain more generous than most others - and totally guaranteed by taxpayers."

High

Four out of five public sector workers are guaranteed up to two-thirds of their final salary when they retire. The pensions are linked to inflation - however high it rises.

In the private sector just 16 per cent of workers get a final salary pension and the link is usually capped at five per cent.

No one knows exactly how much taxpayers will have to pay to meet the total public-sector pension bill. But experts say it is around £1.2 trillion - 78 per cent of the nation's entire annual economic output.

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