Employee contributions exceed employer contributions
Figures from the Office of National Statistics have revealed that during 2008 (the most recent year for which data is available) employee contributions to pensions exceeded employer contributions for the first time in nearly a decade.
During the year:
- Employees paid a total of £42.6 billion in contributions
- Employers paid a total of £40.67 billion in contributions
According to People Management magazine 'Some commentators suggested that the figures were evidence that employers were abandoning pensions.'
However, they add that 'the drop in employer contributions follows a period of several years when firms' payments into schemes were accelerating to plug DB funding deficits'.
Either way, the cost of providing for retirement needs to be borne somehow. Employees need to understand the shift in responsibility and employers need to take responsibility for communicating it.