"bert" ] wrote in message
...
In message , Andy Champ
writes
On 23/02/2013 00:13, bert wrote:
It used to be compulsory with any large company to join the pension
scheme after 1 or 2 years.
But then the twittering classes said that wasn't "fair" and so few opted
in and the schemes have died.

That's not why the schemes have died.

People tended not to die so soon, so costs went up. Then we went through
a phase where the returns on the investments were really good, and
companies realised it was cheaper to pension off their older staff rather
than make people redundant (cost to pension fund, not to company, and it
was overfunded so WTH). Then the returns went back to normal leaving funds
underfunded... so Blair and Brown came along and made a "minor change"
(about 5 billion a year) to the way pension funds
were taxed, and suddenly they were unaffordable.

Yes another contributing factor. At the same time they also raided the NI
pension contributions as I have explained in a previous post.
Except to those paid by the taxpayer, not private sector companies.

Andy
I don't see why the state should pay more in pension to its own employees
than to the other pensioners.

Essentially because many of their employees were professionals
at the time they were employed. The OAP was never intended to
be more than a safetynet for those who did not have pensions
that were the consequence of their employment.