On 20 December, the Government announced that ‘heads of agreement’ had been established with most unions in relation to the proposed reforms of the local government, health, civil service and teachers’ pension schemes. The main details of the heads of agreement for each scheme were set out in written statements on 20 December. Of more interest to contractors involved in public sector outsourcing are the Government’s comments on the future of the ‘Fair Deal’ guidance and the subsequent note published by the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) regarding its certification of ‘broadly comparable’ schemes.