Firms spurnhigh-cost pension schemes

A further 18 per cent of the schemes, which include final salary pensions, have also been closed to future accruals from existing members – double the level seen four years ago, according to the Association of Consulting Actuaries.

The group warned that the situation was likely to continue to deteriorate, as a third of companies were currently reviewing their defined benefit schemes, usually with a view to either closing them to future accruals or moving from a final salary to a career average scheme.

About 91 per cent of defined benefit schemes were in deficit, having an average funding level of 79 per cent, and a fifth of schemes said the shortfall would take more than 10 years to close.

Employers are continuing to contribute more than three times as much to defined benefit schemes as they are to the less generous defined contribution ones that replace them.

Companies paid an average of 23 per cent of workers’ pay into defined benefit schemes, compared with only around 6 per cent to defined contribution ones, under which staff have to shoulder the risk of investment volatility and increased life expectancy themselves.

One in four of the 309 companies questioned said they expected to reduce the benefits of their existing pension scheme when auto-enrolment comes into force from 2012 to offset the higher costs, with 15 per cent considering closing their scheme altogether.