As ministers frantically search for more savings to meet the Chancellor's £11.5bn budget cut in the Spending Review the spotlight has fallen on the £500m annual cost of running local government's 89 pension funds. Michael Burton reports.

As Treasury ministers dig down Whitehall sofas to find extra cash to meet the £11.5bn cuts earmarked in this month's Spending Review, attention has focused on the cost of running the £180bn local government pension scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales.