Thousands of public servants offered early retirement

Chancellor George Osborne pledged to cut half a million public sector jobs in the Spending Review last week. As a result, civil servants are being offered early retirement deals in which they forsake their lump sum redundancy payment in exchange for a full final salary available immediately. Around 80,000 Whitehall civil servants are likely to qualify for the early retirement deals, as well as many thousands working in the NHS, local government and the police, the Daily Mail reports. The scheme is set to cost £3bn, as public sector workers earning £60,000 will retire on an average ...