UK Pensions in 2018 : The statistics you NEED to know
- Matthew Clay
- Jan 23, 2018
- 2 min read
Anyone holding a defined benefit scheme may want to seriously consider their position and options in 2018. A few statistics to bear in mind when considering your options as 2018 gets under way:
Only 19 of the FTSE 100 firms still provide a significant number of staff with a DB pension scheme.
A major study by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) stated that three million savers in remaining schemes had only a 50% chance of receiving the payouts they had been promised.
A defined benefit pension scheme that might have had an employer cost of 10% to 15% of payroll in the late Eighties now costs the same employer well over 40% of payroll.
A typical scheme now costs employers more than three times the cost of 30 years ago.
11 household names including Sainsburys are sitting on deficits that are not only larger than their market capitalization but in some cases their deficit is as much as six times what the company is actually worth.
Only 51 of the FTSE 100 firms made any 'considerable' contribution towards their pension deficit last year.
Despite any contributions made, the deficit increased by 20% on the previous year.
The current pension pot is sitting with a total deficit of £705 billion.
So what is going to happen next? Well some firms are trying to make a difference by pu
tting more money into the hole. Other firms like Barclays are trying to 'reposition' where the deficit falls (article available on the Telegraph here:
The deficit is increasing at a rate where many firms are going under and whilst Theresa May is trying to protect pensioners from these types of scenarios there sometimes just is not enough that can be done. Following the collapse of BHS it was found that there was a £571m deficit in the pension scheme and more recently, the collapse of construction firm Carillon which originally was thought to have had a deficit of of £580m could actually leave its pension with a deficit of as much as £900m.
In 2017, Loadstone Group helped a record number of people around the world transfer their schemes out of a DB (defined benefit) structure and into an International Pension Plan which secures their pension away from the risks associated with DB schemes. For further information on what your options are, please visit our website and complete a contact form or alternatively feel free to email us at info@loadstonegroup.com
