Prospect, the UK’s second-largest civil service union, has accepted the plans for changes to public sector pensions from 2015.

With a turnout of 50 per cent of the 29,000 members, 79 per cent voted in favour of the deal between the government and unions, which will see an increase in retirement age, higher contributions and lower benefits for public sector workers.

The union said it was the best deal that could be achieved from negotiations and deputy general secretary Dai Hudd said: "Members have had their say after noting that the proposed terms were the best achievable by negotiation. They understood that the government's offer was conditional on acceptance, and that if the terms were rejected there was a danger of government imposing something much worse.”

She added that the union had achieved “significant improvements from the government’s opening position” and that for many the pension they accrue under the new agreement could be higher than in their current scheme. "The final position also protects all those within ten years of retiring, who remain in their existing schemes," she said.

Hudd stressed the yes vote was not an endorsement of the government's pensions policy and that the ballot only relates to the terms of the new scheme operating from 2015, as the union does not endorse any changes from now to 2014.

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