Public Affairs Correspondent Paul Dale reports from the Local Government Association conference in Birmingham, where David Cameron became the first prime minister to address the annual gathering of councillors and council officials
David Cameron and Nick Clegg could have been forgiven for feeling a little apprehensive about walking into what amounted to a local government lions’ den.
After all, examples of politicians being shouted down, booed and jeered at conferences are legion.
But on this occasion the 800-plus delegates at the Local Government Association annual assembly in Birmingham seemed intent on listening carefully to what the Prime Minister and his deputy had to say at a time when local councils are shedding thousands of jobs and under the financial cosh as never before.
In a polished display, Mr Cameron managed to play bad cop and good cop at the same time, and seemed to get away with it. His keynote speech and 15-minute question and answer session in front of senior councillors and council officers from across the country was even greeted with a ripple of polite applause.
On the subject of public sector pensions, speaking two days before 750,000 council workers were to mount a one-day strike in protest at the Government’s reform plans, Mr Cameron was resolute.
Although he was prepared to negotiate, there should be no doubting that the current generous system has to change because Britain simply cannot continue to fund retirement at 60 for public servants who will live, on average, for another 30 years.
As the baby boomers of the 1950s and 60s retire and live longer, the pensions system is in danger of “going broke”, he added.
Mr Cameron told his audience: “Reform is essential. Our proposals are fair on the taxpayer and fair on public sector workers.”
Under the proposals council workers will have to pay higher pension contributions and work for longer before they can retire.
They will keep their gold-plated schemes, but pensions in future will probably be based on a career-average assessment. This means that the final salary for retirees is worked out by taking the average salary over a career of, say, 40 years rather than the best salary of the last five years of employment.
Mr Cameron said this change would be fairer because it would stop councils from hugely inflating salaries of highly-paid chief officers as they approach retirement in order to maximise pension payments.
