Govt explores new types of pension schemes

The government is assessing new types of pension scheme designed to even out the risks between employer and employee following the closure of many final salary pensions by private firms.

Pensions minister Steve Webb said firms would like to offer their employees "some sort of certainty but without all the costs and burden they already face". The idea, he said, is to replace final-salary pensions, which have become too expensive for many private firms. One example suggested by Webb is the cash-balance scheme used by the retailer Morrisons. Under that model an employee receives a fixed pension pot on retirement, which they then have to invest. The government has also been looking at pension schemes in other countries where risk sharing is more common.