SIR – In welcoming Colin Jones’ letter of October 30 on public sector pensions, I would add that the average pension for people in the Hereford and Worcester local government scheme is just £4,563 a year.

This is a funded scheme, which depends on investing in the stock market, not on the tax-payer. The oft-misquoted costs on our council tax are over a 20-year period. It is also a contributory scheme, so we pay into it now from our salaries and then draw it out when we have retired.

Conversely, the liability in private schemes is about 10 times as much as that in the public sector.

ADRIAN GREGSON
UNISON Worcester