Govt to include public sector pension liabilities in accounts

This will mean up to £1,200bn of debt will appear on the government's books on Wednesday as it will be forced to include the pension liabilities of teachers, police and the NHS as debt on its balance sheet, the Financial Times reports. The new accounting system, called whole of government accounts, will inflate the apparent liabilities of the state and drag the calculated net assets of the government into debt. However, it will not change the figures for government debt and borrowing, measured using national accounting standards and used to compare to other governments' debts.