---

Council Tax

Yes, I am hopeful, and the Government, as regulator of the scheme, stand ready to facilitate discussions between the employers represented by the LGA and the representatives of members of the scheme, the trade unions. Our policy is that the taxpayer should not be asked to pick up any additional burdens. This is a funded scheme. We have legal obligations to ensure that it is viable and, of course, legal, and we seek to do that in a way that will secure the future of the final-salary pension scheme to the benefit of all employees and of local authorities.