A FORMER Mayor of Worcester has voiced fears over the future of a massive pension pot - saying she doesn't want it to "go bust" due to job cuts.

Councillor Pat Agar, who was the city's first citizen until June, says she is deeply concerned about what could happen to Worcestershire's pension fund due to the need to make savings.

The county's Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), which has £1.5 billion of assets invested in the likes of BP and Vodaphone, is used by all councils across Worcestershire and Herefordshire as well as the rest of the public sector like the police, fire service and colleges.

But town halls across the county, most notably Worcester City Council and the county council, are looking to hand over great swathes of services to outside providers, a strategy known as commissioning.

It could also mean service areas getting into private hands, which in turn would mean less people paying into the fund.

Although the pension kitty ran at an operating surplus of £38 million last year, meaning more funds were paid in than taken out, its stability relies on keeping the balance positive and hundreds of staff are expected to either leave or retire over the next few years.

Each council with a stake in the fund takes on a net liability each year, and for Worcester City Council that stands at £33 million.

Cllr Agar said: "I do have concerns around the pension fund's future.

"Because this council is moving towards being a commissioning one, if that happens and we shrink as an authority, we'll have less people paying into it in the future.

"We'll have to talk about it, I don't want it to go bust."

Her concerns have been taken on by finance chiefs at the city council, who say they need to look carefully about the implications.

Corporate resources director Lesley Meagher said: "Every three years the pension liabilities are assessed and the theory is, over a large period of time estimates are made.

"We do need to have a think about it and over time I'll be picking this issue up - with staff redundancies in local government, pensions are a problem area."