Cameron urges halt to public sector pension strikes

The prime minister will today wade into the debate over public sector pension reform, urging unions to call off strikes planned for Thursday.

David Cameron is expected to tell the Local Government Association (LGA) conference later today public sector pensions are unfair on taxpayers, the BBC reports.

Up to 750,000 members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the University and College Union (UCU) and the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will strike on 30 June.

Thousands of schools are expected to be disrupted, but education secretary Michael Gove faced harsh criticism when he suggested parents should help out in schools to keep them running.

Public sector workers are opposed to proposals to increase employee pension contributions, move from final salary to career average arrangements, and push back pension ages.

Yesterday, the government agreed to consider reforms to the local government pension scheme (LGPS) separately from other public sector schemes as it is funded differently.