MILLIONS of workers are to miss out on gold-plated final salary pensions with almost every fund set for the axe by next year, experts have warned.
In what pension analysts are calling “the end of an era”, every single one of the defined benefit (DB) schemes offered by the country’s top companies face being shut down.
Faced with a £81bn black hole between what the pensions are worth and what needs to be paid out, many scheme managers will have no choice but to shut them.
Difficult economic conditions, rising pension costs and increasingly aggressive pension regulations are making it more and more difficult for to keep the DB schemes open, according to the experts.
While changes in economic conditions and increasing life expectancy have also contributed to the spiralling growth in pension liabilities.
And attempts by many companies to stem the growth of their pension liabilities by closing DB pension schemes to new entrants and/or to all members have had little impact.