The CBI is calling on the Government to stop “beating up on employers” over pensions after it released figures showing employer contributions to pensions have doubled since 1997.
The CBI leader, Digby Jones, said employer contributions rose from £18bn in 1997 to £37bn in 2003 and the cost was hitting company profits and damaging investment and jobs.
Jones said the figures demonstrated the strength of employer commitment to pensions, even though “a Molotov cocktail of circumstances” has combined to undermine final salary provision.
His comments come ahead of the long-awaited report on pensions by former CBI Director-General Adair Turner, due out tomorrow.
“It is time to pull heads out of the sand and start talking about credible solutions, rather than only beating up on employers,” Jones said.
“The rise in employer contributions demonstrates the scale of the problem that firms have been responding to,” he said. “Firms must do more, but so must individuals and the Government. It may be politically difficult, but it’s a government responsibility to show leadership and so far this has been insufficiently forthcoming.”
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