'Ponzi' public sector pensions threaten economic stability

The Public Sector Pensions Commission accuses successive governments of hiding the true cost of public sector pensions, and raises fresh concerns about the State's £1trn of retirement promises. Its report, out today, calls for urgent reform of the civil servants' gold-plated benefits in which it says pensions are worth an average of at least 40% of salary. The main unfunded schemes have combined employer and employee contribution rates artificially set at around 20% of salary. But the report says the true value of such schemes, when measured using a discount rate based on the cu...