Town hall staff this week moved closer to mass strikes over pensions, after a leading trade union accused councils of ‘milking' the sector's £140bn retirement fund to help deliver the Treasury's spending reduction targets.

In a document obtained by The MJ on the eve of this week's Trades Union Congress, the GMB reveals that, despite months of pension talks, no agreement has been reached on the future of the Scheme and the union's ‘thoughts have turned to industrial action'.