Occupational pension schemes of all types are in decline. In 2000 there were 119,347 live schemes registered with OPRA and by 2004 this had declined to 94,535.

The number of live occupational pension schemes (excluding those in the public sector) dropped by over 6,000 (6%) in 2003/2004. Of the total there are now only 9834 non-public sector defined benefit schemes and of these 63% were closed to new members and a further 9% to new accruals*.

In many cases defined benefit schemes are being replaced by defined contribution schemes where the investment risks are removed from the employers and transferred to the employees. Furthermore the contribution rates of the new defined contribution schemes are very much lower (totalling 8.5% as opposed to 16.1% on average) which will inevitably lead to lower pensions.

* ACA Survey 2003
** Watson Wyatt Pension Plan Survey 2004

See: The reasons for the decline

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