Downing Street Says » Pensions/Retirement Age

» Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Pensions/Retirement Age

Asked if the Prime Minister regretted not acting in some way in relation to the retirement age of 60 for civil servants, and was the Prime Minister planning to leave it as it stood, or would there be some reforms, the PMOS said he was not aware of any plans to revisit the issue. As he had said earlier today, the savings which the agreement would deliver amounted to £13 billion between now and 2050. Therefore, that was why the Government believed that this was a good deal. That remained the position as we stated at the time, and it remained our position.

Asked why the Prime Minister regretted it then, and that others had said that it would cost £2 billion per year for the five extra years, the PMOS said it would be for others to justify their own figures. We believed the savings as calculated by the department were correct, and it would be a substantial amount of money. As the PMOS said at the time, Alan Johnson had negotiated the agreement within the envelope agreed by Cabinet.

Asked why the Prime Minister regretted it, the PMOS said he had already stated the case.

Asked again why the Prime Minister regretted it, the PMOS replied the journalist may ask the question as many times as he liked, but he had already answered.

Asked if the Prime Minister was now looking favourably at raising the retirement age from 65 to 67, the PMOS said it was better to wait for the Turner Report to come out, and then see what the Government response was to it.

Asked if the Prime Minister had received a copy or seen an advance draft of the Turner Report, the PMOS said that we would comment on the Turner Report whenever we commented on it, and it would be finalised when it was finalised. The PMOS said he was not going to give a running commentary.
Put to the PMOS that "surely" the Prime Minister would see a copy before it was published, the PMOS said the journalist was asking him to engage in a process, but rather, people should deal with the reality of the outcome.

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