Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Accepted
WGA reporting on actuarial assumptions impacting unfunded pension liability requires further improvement.
Recommendation
We questioned the Treasury about the clarity of reporting within the WGA on the impact of actuarial assumptions on the unfunded pension liability figure reported.62 It replied that the WGA disclosure of such factors had improved from previous years, but acknowledged that further improvement could be made.63 Long term sustainability
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, committing to publishing undiscounted data and long-term trend analysis in the 2023-24 WGA performance report by July 2025, and reviewing linkages to streamline content.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2025 5.2 One of the important principles of WGA is that it summarises and presents information already in the public domain. It is correct that departmental accounts should be the first place where information relevant to departmental finances are published, with WGA acting as an opportunity to aggregate, summarise and analyse trends. Where undiscounted data is available it will be published in the WGA performance report. 5.3 The 2023-24 WGA performance report will include long term trend analysis of significant assets and liabilities. Where possible updates on how government seeks to manage liabilities will be provided. Linkages between discount rate information in different parts of the Performance Report and Accounting Notes will be reviewed in the 2023-24 WGA to streamline the content. 5.4 Accounting standards require disclosure of significant assumptions and sensitivities as part of the notes to the financial statements. These include sensitivity analysis for other key assumptions: rate of increase in pensions, rate of increase in salaries or life expectancy in retirement.