Pensions fail to provide for old age.

AuthorParry, Charlotte

Falling share values and poor information are undermining faith in pensions. Charlotte Parry reports on why stakeholder pensions are failing to avert a crisis

October is a crucial time for the pensions sector. Firms with five or more employees are required to have stakeholder pension schemes in place by 8 October, but the industry faces several crises.

Figures from the Association of British Insurers reveal that by the end of June just 90,000 firms had set up stakeholder pensions. This left 500,000 businesses liable for 50,000 [pounds sterling] fines for non-compliance.

Businesses setting up schemes may face technical problems with their payroll software, said Helen Matthews, business development manager at pensions and payroll services provider Eastlands. "Most company payroll systems are set up to take pensions contributions from gross pay. Contributions to stakeholder pensions, like those to group personal pension schemes, must be deducted from an employee's net pay."

Even if everything runs smoothly, staff could lose out. Members of defined contribution pension plans could face significant shortfalls in their retirement benefits because of falling investment returns, lower annuity rates and increased life expectancy, according to William M Mercer. Pension levels could be less than half the amount that members expect, according to Jonathan Gainsford, the firm's European partner.

"Pension shortfalls will hit members of defined contributions schemes particularly hard. In times of low...

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