National accounts
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Unfunded public sector pension liabilities and debt in national accounts
It has been argued that public sector pension liabilities are “the UK’s second national debt”, and that the government should be transparent about it and account for this liability in its published debt figures. One consequence of reclassifying the estimated £1 trillion liabilities as “debt” would be a doubling of the official debt stock and hence also the debt to GDP
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Towards a more transparent government balance sheet
- Gross debt is backward-looking and excludes important liabilities, making it an imperfect tool to assess state of public finances. However, it is commonly used around the world, facilitating comparability, and easy to measure precisely.
- Other measures can include wider range of liabilities and assets. UK net worth, which includes public infrastructure, stood at £320bn in