Probe launched into £800 billion occupational pensions blackhole
An investigation will look into the UK’s 6,000 final salary pension schemes following funding fears raised by BHS and British Steel.
A Work and Pensions Select Committee is reportedly about to launch an investigation into the UK’s final salary pensions sector.
It is expected to probe all 6,000 occupational pension schemes that operate a defined benefit scheme to check how many are at risk of failing.
A final salary, or defined benefit, pension scheme is linked to your salary and increases as your pay rises. Your pension is based on your pay at retirement and the number of years you have been in the scheme rather than the performance of investments or the stock market.
It’s estimated that more than 5,000 of the schemes are in deficit by £805 billion in total, while the surplus of the remaining schemes is just £4 billion.
Signs of strain
The move comes amid funding fears for the BHS and British Steel schemes, which are both in deficit.
The collapse of high street retailer BHS in March uncovered a £570 million black hole in its final salary scheme, which is meant to cover 20,000 past and present employees.
While the Pension Protection Fund – which can step in to make payments to members of a defined benefit pension scheme when an employer goes bust – is likely to help, its rules will mean those who have not reached retirement age in the scheme could see a 10% cut to their pensions.
Find out more in our guide: Pension Protection Fund: what it is and how much compensation you get.
Meanwhile the Government is currently consulting on changes to the defined benefit scheme for members of the British Steel Pension Scheme, which could have a wider impact for all schemes of this kind in the future.
It wants to reduce the pension payable for 130,000 current and ex-steel workers that are part of the British Steel Pension Scheme in order to make Tata’s Port Talbot sale more attractive to buyers.
It’s proposing switching the scheme from one based on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation to the Retail Prices Index (RPI), which could leave future pensioners 17% worse off.
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Tackling the problem
Around 11 million people are in a defined benefit pension scheme in the UK, but it’s believed the 6,000 schemes may be in trouble because of the ageing population and low returns on investments.
Frank Field, the pensions committee chair and Labour MP for Birkenhead told the BBC: "The state of the British Steel pension scheme is further worrying evidence of a wider danger to one of the biggest savings successes in Britain during the last century - occupational pension schemes."
"The select committees' in-depth case study on BHS is illustrating how such schemes are already creaking from rising life expectancy and record low returns on capital.
"Pension law and regulation must urgently adapt to the issues of the future, rather than the problems of the past. The whole savings edifice is in danger."
Field also said: "This will be a major inquiry considering radical solutions to one of the great problems of this age. The inquiry will consider, amongst other things, radical solutions that could be more easily implemented if real returns on capital rise again."
Tom McPhail, Head of Retirement Policy welcomed the move. “It is no longer possible to turn a blind eye to the yawning reality gap that has opened up between the past promises made by employers through their pension schemes, and the funds available today to make good on those promises.
“This issue affects just about everybody, either directly or indirectly; not just as scheme members, employers, trustees and shareholders, it is also relevant to younger employees in defined contribution pensions.
A huge proportion of employers’ pension spending is currently being diverted into these final salary schemes, at the expense of younger workers who typically receive lower pension funding as a consequence."
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