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BURY residents are paying £53 each to keep council workers in gold plated' pensions.

Figures from the TaxPayers' Alliance show that Bury's spending on pensions has risen by 14 per cent in one year, from £8.5 million to £9.7 million.

The per head' cost is the third lowest in Greater Manchester, behind Stockport and Trafford: the city itself pays the most, at £100 per resident.

The Alliance is demanding that ministers reform the local government pension scheme, and that councils do not pay enhanced years' to people who leave early.

But John Ransford of the Local Government Association (LGA), said: "The TaxPayers' Alliance appears to be condemning lollipop ladies, bin men, street cleaners and librarians for getting a pension worthy of the years of service they have given helping local people "Councils provide more than 800 different services for local residents and these cannot be delivered by robots or machines."

Mr Mike Owen, Bury's director of finance, said pension costs were largely outside the control of individual councils.

"The scheme is a national one, and the rate that the council has to pay is heavily influenced by matters such as death/survival rates and pension fund investment returns.

"We do pay enhanced years, but only within very strict criteria and only when there is a robust business case. In fact the council has consistently underspent the allowance' that the pension fund make for early retirement costs within Bury.

"The pension scheme has recently been reformed and this means that in future employees will pay more into the fund whilst seeing tighter access to retirement benefits."

Mr Owen added: "We also support wholeheartedly the points made by the LGA in their response."

2:55pm Thursday 6th March 2008

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