IFAs say reform of 'Ponzi' public sector pensions inevitable

An independent commission led by Lord Hutton this week recommended public service workers' contributions should increase in a bid to cut the rising cost of the schemes. It also suggested cutting the schemes' "inherently unfair" link to final salaries and calculate payouts instead on workers' career average salaries. Some advisers have long been highly critical of public sector pensions and have branded Hutton's recommendations unavoidable and fair. William Crowley, an IFA at Castlegate Investments, says: "Unfunded statutory schemes are probably the largest Ponzi scheme in existence...