Oct 17 2008
Despite recent government reforms, public sector pensions are still more valuable than their private sector alternatives, it has been claimed.
Over the last few years, the Labour administration has introduced alterations to pensions for public servants, including raising the normal pension age to 65 for new entrants to the sector and increasing the level of contributions made by members of some schemes.
According to the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI), such changes have resulted in a reduction of the average value of public sector pension plans of three per cent.
However, it added: "Even after the government's reforms, there are still significant differences between pensions in the public and private sectors."
For example, employees in the public sector are identified as more than twice as likely as their equivalents in the private sector to be a member of an employer-sponsored pension scheme and they are more likely to have a defined benefit pension linked to their final salary.
An educational charity, the PPI describes itself as an "authoritative, unique voice on UK pensions".
