The Conservative leader had accused Labour of a desperate raid after changes were proposed to the council’s pensions contributions reports David Floyd

Hendon Town Hall with (inset right, Labour council leader Barry Rawlings) and (inset left, Tory group leader Dan Thomas)

Barnet Council leader Barry Rawlings has defended his administration’s changes to the borough’s pension contributions after criticism from the leader of the local Conservatives.

In a statement issued before yesterday’s meeting of the council’s Pension Fund Committee, Conservative leader Dan Thomas accused Labour of “desperately raiding the pension fund because they’ve crashed the council’s finances”.

However, in a response today, Cllr Rawlings told Barnet Post that his opponents comments were “inaccurate, irresponsible and confused”, explaining that the decision had cross party support and had been backed by Conservative as well as Labour councillors at last night’s meeting.

Cllr Rawlings said: “Cllr Thomas’ references to “raiding the pension fund” are inaccurate, irresponsible, and confused.

“In February 2023 Barnet Council agreed to overpay pension contributions relative to the statutory requirement and recommendation from the Fund’s independent Actuary. With high long-term interest rates the Fund was calculated at 30 September 2023 to be 127% funded with a c£300 million surplus.

“Given the pressures all local authorities are experiencing, the council is now exploring mechanisms to reshape the overpayment to protect reserves, action which any responsible council would look to take.

“In addition, the current proposals don’t seek to reduce the surplus position, in fact, the council would still be paying more than the cost to meet future benefits, so we would expect the surplus to grow a bit more.

“This approach was supported unanimously by cross-party councillors – including the Conservatives – at last night’s Pension Fund Committee, so, Cllr Thomas’ bizarre intervention needlessly politicises what has been good bipartisan working on this issue, and just undermines his own councillors on the committee.

“We will continue to work closely with the council’s advisors and the Pension Fund Committee to ensure the process protects both the council and members of the Pension Fund.”

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