Warning on new state pension plan

m_c_s

For Information

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7167772.stm

dunstonh

More poor reporting from the BBC.

It is not a state pension. So the title of the article is wrong as are repeated references to state pension in the article.

The impending scheme, currently described by the government as "personal accounts", will force all employers to enrol all their staff into their pension schemes if they are not already members.

Not quite correct. Members will be auto-enrolled but have the option to opt out. Of course, with free money involved, you would be daft to do so but some will.

"Many employers [are] considering closure of their existing defined benefit schemes to new entrants and increasingly existing employees," it added.

Which has nothing to do with the personal account/NPSS. That was happening long before this was even considered.

A recent survey for the ACA, of 336 employers and their pension arrangements, found that 36% of those firms with fewer than 250 staff said they might close their existing schemes in favour of the new government one.

There is no reason for them to close the old schemes as long as the benefits are equal or higher than the NPSS. It may give them an excuse but it is not the cause.

purch

More final salary pension schemes may be closed because of the government's new national pension plan, actuaries have warned.

As usual a totally sensationalist headline, and dire warnings of impending doom, rather than a reasoned and informed article.

Personally I think the Beeb should employ Dunstonh to write their articles on Pensions.......at least then we might get an honest, reasoned and maybe even informed piece of 'news'