Unions' fury at 'tax' on public sector workers

Minsters sparked fresh confrontation with unions today after imposing pension contribution rises condemned as a "tax on teachers and civil servants".

Union bosses reacted with fury after the Government confirmed it was pressing ahead with plans to make teachers and civil servants pay up to 2.4 per cent more towards their retirement from next April.

The move comes amid frenetic talks between the two sides aimed at reaching agreement on wider public sector pension reforms. Evening Standard understands "intensive" negotiations are taking place on a scheme-by-scheme basis, sometimes more than once a day, as ministers hope to reach a deal before the end of the year.

Sources said it was "too early to say" whether agreement would be reached or whether talks would continue into 2012. Ministers are expected to give an update on the talks on Tuesday.

After today's move the civil service PCS union said it would continue to attend the discussions, but general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Ministers only appear to be interested in imposing an unfair and entirely unnecessary tax on people working in the public sector."

National Union of Teachers boss Christine Blower also described it as "unjustified tax on teachers and other public sector workers".

Schools Minister Nick Gibb and Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude insisted the changes were fair because they would protect the lowest paid while helping bring down the cost of public sector pensions.

It comes as a report said that Whitehall is being hardest hit by spending cuts with more than 5,000 civil servants' jobs axed in the past 14 months.

The report by the respected Institute for Government found that Whitehall has been slashed by 10.9 per cent since the Spending Review last autumn, compared with 6.8 per cent for the non-Whitehall civil service and 4.3 per cent for the wider public sector including schools, hospitals and town halls.

The report highlighted that the Department for Work and Pensions is seeing the biggest number of job losses in Whitehall, with 450 from the "core" department over the last quarter.

The study, which found that overall 8,770 posts have been lost in the civil service in the last quarter, was based on the latest employment figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Government sources said the job cuts were making the civil service "leaner and more efficient" as part of the spending reductions to tackle Britain's debt mountain.