The Big Question

Should public sector workers have to wait until they are 65 to collect their occupational pensions?

Len Smith – Gypsy activist
We’ve got an ageing population so we have all got to make sacrifices, although I can understand why people with jobs in the public sector dislike being asked to work an extra five years. Perhaps the pension changes should be done in stages. The only other solution is higher taxes. If we want something, we’ve got to pay for it.

Shaun Webster – Change self-advocacy group
It’s wrong to expect them to work five more years when they had been led to expect their pension at 60. By the time I come to retire it looks like I’ll be 70 before I can get my state pension. The government isn’t doing enough to support the pension system – there should be higher taxes on rich people, who can afford it.

Karen Shook – Disability equality adviser
This will affect more and more people as pensions come under attack as a result of stocks and shares downturns over the years. Whatever the outcome, it is important that occupational pension conditions are equal across the public sector with no discrepancy between local and national government.

Kerry Evans – Parent of two severely autistic children
There should be a uniform age for retirement among all workers but any employee deserves the freedom to choose when they retire. Making staff in local and national government work until they are 65 smacks of revenue savings rather than offering any social benefits.