EU officials' pension boost to cost UK £170m

Prime Minister David Cameron’s calls for financial restraint from the European Union have been ignored as the UK bill for Brussels officials’ pensions increases by £170 million.

Britain will be hit by a bill for £170 million next year to contribute to the cost of increasing retirement payouts to those working for the EU. The officials will enjoy pension rises of 4%, more than the European inflation rate of 2.6%, according to the Daily Mail.

The increase will take the average pension pot of Brussels officials to £60,000 a year, with top ranking employees taking home £102,000.

Cameron has called for the EU to cut its budget demands and to freeze spending until 2020 but last week the European Commission set out a 4.9% hike in the 2012 budget.

A government spokesman said: ‘Governments across Europe have taken significant actions to reduce the costs of the public sector.

‘Pay and pensions in EU institutions must reflect the very difficult decisions which are being made right across Europe.’

In Britain, Lord Hutton has set out a plan to curb the cost of public sector pensions by switching from final salary schemes to a career average.