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What a breath of fresh air Ros Altmann is when looking at the wider picture on pensions.

Her comments in Financial Adviser (11 September) are a clarion call to warn everyone of the growing crisis that is emerging with the open-ended cheque available for public sector pensions.

Unfortunately, she is far too honest in her assessment to be a politician and you only have to think of what happened to Frank Field when he started talking commons ense on the subject, only to be immediately side-lined.

So where do the main parties stand on this matter? With an election in the offing within the next two years no politician is going to stand up and advocate cutting back on unfunded public sector pensions, particularly so the Labour Party, which is largely funded by the public sector unions.

But none of this makes the problem go away and sooner rather than later out of sheer economic necessity the party in power will have to take action in order to balance the books. The response from the public services unions is likely to be wholly predictable with widespread strikes, so start stocking up on your candles and tinned food as it is going to be a tough fight.

David Kaye

Consultant

Horsham Financial Services

Horsham

West Sussex