Welfare Reform on the Web (November 2005): Pensions - UK

Hybrid pension schemes: a more balanced alternative to DB and DC?

K. Wesbroom

Pensions International, no.74, 2005, p.16-17

Defined contribution pension schemes remain the preferred option for employers as they disengage from defined benefit schemes. However a significant minority have implemented hybrid plans, a trend which seems set to continue.

Pension-age workers show fastest growth

N.Timmins

Financial Times, October 14th 2005, p.3

People past state pension age are now the fastest-growing group in work, the latest labour market statistics show. That is a marked charge from the mid-1990s when their numbers grew in some quarters and fell in others. The Third Age Employment, a lobby group, said yesterday the growth in pensioners working on was being "fuelled by the pensions crisis"

Pensions deal averts strike threat

P. Wintour

The Guardian, October 19th 2005, p. 12

A far-reaching strike across the public sector on pensions was averted yesterday when the government and unions agreed a framework deal in which existing workers will still have a retirement age of 60, but the pension for new workers from next year will be 65. Ministers had wanted to raise the retirement age to 65 for existing workers, but dropped this demand yesterday.

(See also The Independent, October 19th 2005, p.19; Financial Times, October 19th 2005, p.1)

Pensions reform urged as millions of women face years of poverty

D. Derbyshire

The Daily Telegraph, October 20th 2005, p.10

Millions of women face an impoverished retirement because they wrongly assume their husbands will provide for them in old age, pension experts said yesterday. Many women are left penniless because they put their husband's financial security before their own - only to see their marriages break up. Women are also losing out because the pension system discriminates against part-time working and career breaks. The report, What Women Want, called for reform of the pensions system to make it easier and more feasible for women to save.