Tuesday, January 3, 2012

'Seismic collapse' of private sector pensions in UK-BBC

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1/2/12, "Private sector pensions in seismic collapse, says ACA," BBC

"There has been a "seismic collapse"in private sector pensions, and the gap between private and public pensions is widening, a report warns.

The Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) says that nine out of 10 private sector defined benefit schemes

  • are now closed to new entrants.

The ACA wants bold government action to reinvigorate workplace pensions.

Automatic enrollment, set to begin later this year, would enable millions of people to save, the government said.

But Stuart Southall, chairman of the ACA, said that while automatic enrollment should widen private sector pension coverage, "the fact that recently the government had to delay its introduction for smaller employers, because of the deteriorating economic climate, is discouraging".

Defined benefit schemes give members a guaranteed pension, based either on their final salary or their average pay over the length of their career, depending on the scheme.

There are some 23 million workers in the private sector in the UK,

  • and six million in the public sector."...
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