Public Sector Pensions

Debate between Hywel Williams and Jackie Doyle-Price

Thursday 8th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jackie Doyle-Price]

My hon. Friend makes my point much more powerfully than I do.

[Hywel Williams]

On 30 November, the Prime Minister said:

“We rejected the idea that we should level down public sector pensions.”—[Official Report, 30 November 2011; Vol. 536, c. 931.]

Does the hon. Lady agree with that?

[Jackie Doyle-Price]

I totally agree with that comment. I do not recognise any criticism that we are levelling down public sector pensions. We are trying to take this forward in a consensual way.

I welcome the fact that in our proposed reforms we are sticking with defined benefit systems. Many private sector schemes have had to migrate to defined contribution schemes because of the unaffordability of their existing schemes. We recognise that public sector workers are going to have to make a much bigger contribution, but they are doing so to achieve benefits that would be much more expensive if offered to workers in the private sector.