The majority of town hall pension scheme members live in the most deprived areas of their locality, a regional study has discovered, casting doubts on claims council staff enjoy gold-plated retirement benefits.
An analysis of the West Midlands Pension Fund (WMPF) which will be unveiled at a CIPFA pensions summit next month, has mapped payouts by local town halls with the postcodes of former staff. It found that ‘the majority of beneficiaries live in the 30% most deprived areas’ of the West Midlands, while the average pension payment to such residents was just £3,400 a year.
A spokeswoman for Unison said the findings ‘contrast starkly with recent, misinformed claims that the average LGPS member enjoys a lucrative, taxpayer-funded pension in retirement’.
Researchers for the WMPF found pensioners in the most deprived local areas, including wards in Birmingham, were ‘likely’ to be on the state minimum pension and to claim a range of means-tested state benefits, as well as support-related payments, such as disability allowance.
The WMPF analysis states: ‘The LGPS allows many to live fully or partially independently of finance-related benefits.’
CIPFA sources said the findings for the West Midlands were ‘likely’ to be indicative of LGPS payments across similar urban centres.
Last week, CLG officials published data showing that the annual cost of the LGPS had increased by £400m, to £5.6bn, in 2008/09 – leading some MPs to claim that council taxpayers were footing the bill for local government’s largesse in retirement.
But Brian Bailey, WMPF administrator, said the reality was former town hall staff enjoyed modest incomes in retirement. ‘The media has been full of myths and half-truths about public pensions in recent months. It’s time the facts were made clear,’ he said.
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