Cutting the cost of public sector pensions by 25pc would save the taxpayer tens of billions of pounds every year, the Centre for Policy Studies said Photo: Alamy By Holly Watt,, Whitehall Editor 10:56PM GMT 18 Dec 2011 Comments The income available to households has fallen for the fifth year in a row with people saying they have £46 less available a month, the annual survey has shown. The decline in disposable income will raise concerns for hard-pressed households, with the study concluding that 2011 was a “challenging” year and that the economic recovery appears “to have slowed”. The number of people falling behind on bills or credit commitments rose from 4.1 per cent in 2010 to 7.5 per cent in 2011, according to research carried out for the bank by NMG Consulting. The increasing number of people falling behind on bills is likely to be driven by the rise in utility costs and the price of essential household goods.[Read more...]