| Pension changes would be another form of tax on business - FPB |
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| 20/06/2002 | |
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by James Whitwell Trades Union Congress (TUC) proposals for compulsory employer contributions to pensions are causing deep concern among UK private businesses, according to the Forum of Private Business (FPB). The small business representative body believes such a scheme is completely unworkable and nothing more than another form of tax. The call to make employer contributions mandatory and at twice the amount of employee's contributions was made by the TUC this week. The proposals also called for membership of the occupational scheme to be compulsory for workers as a condition of employment. "This is totally unnecessary," said Garry Parker, FPB Director of Public Affairs. "The whole pensions crisis cannot be solved by simply making employer contributions compulsory. The Government must look at simplifying the pension rules, rather than adding more layers of complexity." FPB says the Government has an opportunity to adopt a clean slate approach to reform all retirement pay, which is in a state of change. There is already a chorus of calls on Gordon Brown to scrap the proposed second pension, which includes support from the Institute of Public Policy Research, the think-tank, and also Watson Wyatt the pension fund consultants. "Successive governments have all introduced various changes to the whole area of pensions," continued Parker. "But, the question is, what is the result? There is no coherence and no clarity. The UK work force and its employers must have a simple system in which they can have confidence and transparency." The FPB believes occupational pensions must not be enforced by the "bully boy" tactics of the TUC and that a much wider ranging consultation of the terms of any scheme must be undertaken than is currently being undertaken by the Government. "Ideally, the final decision about what type of pension scheme is used should be left up to any employee," said Parker. |
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