News

Public sector union Unison is holding a consultative ballot on industrial action over plans to change staff pension schemes.

National officer Owen Davies warned that, unless the government revised its plans, which include raising the minimum age for early retirement from 50 to 55, staff would take action. There was "a mood of real resentment" and the government needed to act to prevent strikes, he added.

The threat follows news that council pension schemes are facing liabilities of £30bn, a threefold increase on 2001, according to an interim report by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.

Changes would come into force for council workers in April, a year earlier than similar reforms in the rest of the public sector.