Strong reservations over pensions plan

There is still great concern among the unions about how the government is handling proposed changes to public sector pensions, according to social legislation officer for the Isle of Man Trades Council, Angela Moffatt.

The government wants to unify 15 existing schemes into a single, final salary scheme for all the Island's 7,500 public servants, as recommended in a report by independent consultants.

Ms Moffatt (pictured) has this message for the government:

"We want to work with you, we know there is a problem, but we need something that we can work with you on.

"There are some good elements in this report that we want to build on, but there are other elements that we have got strong reservations about.

"I can't predict what our members' reaction is going to be, but I don't anticipate that it will be uniformly good."

A public consultation exercise lasting three months will be launched at the start of next month, and the Council of Ministers is due to put its recommendations on the matter to Tynwald at the July sitting.

More on Friday's Mandate.