The British government has agreed to return to the negotiating table over planned changes to public sector pensions to avoid a politically damaging strike ahead of a general election. Ministers have belatedly offered to talk afresh about plans to increase the retirement age for many public sector workers to 65 from 60 after trade unions threatened a one-day strike within days.
"It's not a big U-turn but it is an attempt to have a fresh start here. I think the unions and their members felt with some justification that there wasn't a proper negotiating process," Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson told BBC television.
Trade union leaders will meet on Monday to decide whether to press ahead with a walk-out involving 1.5 million local government workers and other civil servants.
"I hope that when the union executives meet that they can call the industrial action off because I do think we now have a proper basis for negotiation," Johnson said on Sunday.
Britain faces problems with pensions provision in the public and private sector: an ageing population is living longer, tax changes robbed pension funds of billions of pounds and stock market falls have cut their investment returns.
Government adviser Adair Turner, who will present a final report on the problem some time after an expected May 5 election, has already spelled out four basic options - allow the number of poor pensioners to grow, raise taxes, increase private saving, or increase the average retirement age.
"As life expectancy has increased, average retirement ages have come down and the proportion of adult life that people spend in retirement has expanded dramatically," Johnson said.
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