Public sector pensions must be prepared to fight their corner in the coming months as the government prepares to enforce public spending cuts, warns London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) chairman, Anthony Mayer.

At the National Association of Pension Funds' (NAPF) Local Authority Conference, Mayer said even the funded public sector schemes, such as the LGPS, must be ready to change to survive as they are not going to be immune to the cuts the government will make to alleviate the huge national debt.

Immediate priorities are to get open-minded pensions experts with in-depth knowledge of this sector onto the newly proposed independent pensions commission, as well as addressing disinformation about public sector pensions, and devising "positive, realistic and practical ideas" to secure the future of funded schemes.

"If we are to be listened to by this new Government, then a cap to public expenditure must be on offer, along with steps to ensure the long-term sustainability of the LGPS," Mayer said. "If not, the LGPS will wither away because without real and radical action the scheme will be unaffordable in the long-term no matter what current cash flow is.

"Yes, public sector pension schemes will be under attack in the coming months. And yes, the Guardians of the LGPS need to respond with positive and effective measures to ensure its long-term affordability and our responsibilities to the public purse."

Mayer added that to even suggest an increase in employer contributions would be to enter 'cloud cuckoo land'.

Joanne Segars, chief executive officer at the NAPF, came from a different angle and suggested that improvements be made instead to private sector pension provision to close the gap.

"Some have suggested that the key to closing the gap between private sector and public sector pensions is to ratchet down public sector pensions to the levels typically seen in the private sector. With 12 million people either not saving or not saving enough, making millions of public sector workers - from firemen to dinner ladies - worse off in retirement
doesn't seem to me to be much of an answer."

The public sector pensions debate between UNISON and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is discussed in the latest issue of Pensions Age.

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