Call for employers to be protected over pensions advice

A
government adviser has called for employers to be protected so they can promote
pensions without fear of being sued for mis-selling,
reports the Financial Times.

Employers
are deeply worried that any advice they give about pensions "could come
back to bite them in the future" with actions over mis-selling, according to former Sainsbury’s
chairman Peter Davis, who now chairs the government-backed employers’ taskforce
on pensions.

Finance
directors are looking to offload the liabilities of final salary and other
defined benefit schemes on to employees, he told a Labour Party Conference
fringe meeting.

Insurance
companies had paid a huge price over advice that later proved to have been
wrong, and employers fear being put in the same position, Davis
said.

Pensions secretary Alan Johnson
this week announced a £3m-a-year fund to help unions and trade associations
deliver pensions advice.

But
Davis
said he thought unions and employers would be wary of taking that up
"unless the rules were made clear".

By Johann Tasker

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