8:50pm Sunday 7th March 2010
By Peter Magill
COUNTY council bosses have defended their pensions record after it was revealed their scheme had a deficit of £748million.
An investigation by the Taxpayers' Alliance has shown that Lancashire’s shortfall, comparing assets to liabilities, is the third highest nationwide, behind Birmingham and Fife.
And while this 2008-09 position is a £26.6million improvement on the 2007-08 figures, the alliance says it shows that town hall pensions are becoming increasingly unsustainable.
An estimated £1 in every £5 paid by council tax payers goes towards the local government pension fund, according to the campaign group.
Reseachers from the alliance have said that, by 'sitting' on huge deficits, councils were storing up problems for the future.
But Gill Kilpatrick, the county’s finance director, said: “The value of assets in all pension schemes – public and private – has been affected by the fall in investment markets.
“We currently pay pensions using income from employees’ contributions and the investment income we receive, rather than by selling assets and we will be able to do so well into the future.
“It is unrealistic to judge the scheme only by the value of assets, which we know will change according to financial markets.”
Currently just over 15,000 council council staff are part of the pensions scheme and there are more than 53,000 contributors in total, from other related professions.
Official figures show 34,540 are drawing a pension and 38,199 members have deferred their pension entitlements.
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