Will final salary pension schemes ever disappear from the public sector?

Despite repeated warnings from various associations in the UK, it would appear that the UK government is still charging headlong into a potential pension fund nightmare with more and more public sector final salary pension schemes in deficit. Only yesterday we saw the revelation of a £60 billion black hole in local authority pension schemes which UK taxpayers will be forced to bail out. So will final salary pension schemes ever disappear from the public sector?

The problem is, if you worked in the public sector and were part of a final salary pension scheme would you give up this guaranteed pension for the future?

The truth is that the UK government, both national and local authorities, have been overprotective of those in the public sector and indeed invested significant funds into this area. It is no secret that the public sector is by far and away the largest single employer in the UK and set to continue in its vein for some time to come. Despite promises that public sector employment numbers would be cut we see more and more people being moved from department to department and very little in the way of cost reductions. Final salary pension schemes are here to stay in the public sector and the government only has itself to blame!