The public sector pension liability has increased by an eye-watering £832m - to reach more than £3.8bn.

Figures were revealed in the Dark Blue Book, the government’s audited accounts for 2016-17, to be presented to this week’s Tynwald sitting.

It shows the net pension scheme liability increased by £832m during the year from £2.991bn to £3.823bn. In 2013, it was a mere £2.1bn.

But this is largely a liability on paper only. Changes in financial assumptions have resulted in a loss of £723m.

This was principally due to the discount rate having decreased over the year, following a significant reduction in corporate bond yields and an increase in expected future inflation.

While the size of the liability appears huge, this is not the major problem for government - as it will never be called in all at once. The bigger problem is cash flow - with more benefits being paid out than contributions are being paid in.

Employee contributions to the government unified schemes and the teachers, police and judiciary pensions schemes totalled £18.7m in 2016-17 and the employer’s contribution was £38.9m. But benefits paid out totalled £88m.

In February, Tynwald voted unanimously in support of the latest proposals for pension reform.

The changes will mean all future benefits being reduced by 6% from April this year.

New members have been paying 2.5% more in contributions from April this year while current members will see that 2.5% increase phased in over three years from April next year.

The aim is to put public sector pensions onto a more sustainable footing in the future by providing a ’cost envelope’.

But this will do nothing to tackle the so-called ’legacy’ funding gap relating to pension payments to public sector workers who have already retired and which is expected to spiral from £44.9m this year to £96.4m in 2034-35.

Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas is due to make a statement in Tynwald this week on public sector pensions legacy funding.

The Dark Blue book also reveals that the number of government staff earning more than £100,000 increased from 125 to 137 over the year.

And it gives figures for transactions paid to Tynwald members for services provided by, or grants awarded to, their companies. Health and Social Care Minister Kate Beecroft’s Manx Home Care Ltd company was paid £127,000 for services supplied.

Anderson Farms, owned by David Anderson MLC, received an Agricultural Development Scheme grant of £18,679. Chief Minister Howard Quayle’s Ballavitchel Estates received £6,521 from the same scheme.