New figures published today (Friday) in the National Audit Office (NAO) report on pay-as-you-go public sector pensions show that they are affordable, sustainable and far from gold-plated, say the TUC.

Figures in the NAO report show that:

Employee contributions to these schemes have increased faster (56 per cent) than pension payments (38 per cent) since 2000.

There has only been a two per cent real terms increase in the average pension in payment since 2000 - the average teachers' pension has fallen by four per cent over that period and the average NHS pension is unchanged.

The vast majority of pensions in payment are modest. The NAO report shows that most pensions paid in both the NHS and civil service are below £110 a week, a quarter of NHS pensions are less than £40 a week and a quarter of civil service pensions are less than £60 a week.

Fewer than 0.2 per cent of teacher pensioners, 1.8 per cent of civil service pensioners and 2.5 per cent of NHS pensioners get pensions of more than £40,000.

Future projections show that the cost of pensions in payment will rise by just 0.2 per cent of GDP to peak at 1.9 per cent from 2018 and then fall again to their current level by 2059. These projections do not even include the billions of pounds that public sector workers will contribute to their pensions.

It is entirely legitimate for the Treasury to contribute to the cost of pensions in payment above the level of employer contributions.

It is absolutely right that the public sector should aim to be a good employer and to provide it's employees with a decent standard of terms and conditions and with a pension that isn't going to leave them in poverty when they retire. It is right that the unions fight for this on behalf of their members. This is not greed, it is protecting people's rights to have a good quality of working life and a decent standard of living whilst they work and in retirement.

Believe me, not all public sector workers have this basic minimum, and those in the low paid and low skilled jobs without access to a decent pension tend to be women. If women are living in poverty, then children are living in poverty and so the cycle continues. Given the size of the public sector, if there is one place we should focus on to create a decent standard to set the best example, this is it.

The issue especially for Wales isn't that the public sector is too big, but the private sector isn't big enough. We need more entrepreneurship, more social enterprises and the Welsh Assembly works hard to develop these opportunities.

Further to that, how short sighted is it to demand cuts and job losses in the public sector, leaving thousands more people redundant, on benefits and not being able to work? There will be more people needing those frontline public services, and fewer to deliver them.

Really, look at the stats from the report on the size of pensions - many people will still be needing to access benefits to top up their incomes on those pensions.

In short, the attacks on public sector workers are not deserved, and unions are good thing...