Further talks will take place centrally, and individual unions will be actively considering also participating in scheme level talks in order to fully explore all the issues and to enable unions and their members to reach a judgement on whether agreement is possible or whether more unions will enter into dispute and plan industrial action.
The TUC has made clear to the government, in agreeing to continue negotiations, that unions have not agreed to or accepted any of the government's objectives or the change in indexation from RPI to CPI.
Speaking to the BBC, Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the treasury, said: "The Government remains committed to securing the full Spending Review savings of £2.3 billion in 2013-14 and £2.8 billion in 2014-15, requiring each scheme to find savings equivalent to a 3.2 percentage point increase.
"Scheme specific discussions will make proposals on how these savings are achieved and will be required to make proposals by the end of October this year."
