Half of final salary pensions in private sector will close to existing staff by 2012

Half of the final salary pension schemes in the private sector will have closed to existing staff within three years, a survey has found.

Acturial firm Watson Wyatt surveyed more than 250 employers in July, finding that while about 75% of all final salary schemes are already shut to new staff, only about 9% are closed to current employees. They have predicted that this will change, with 2009 seeing a flurry of employers closing their pension schemes to all further contributions, the BBC has reported.

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Watson Wyatt estimated that the number of final salary schemes still open to new joiners would fall to 2% by 2012, while schemes still open to existing staff would be less generous.

Barclays, Dairy Crest, Fujitsu, IBM and Morrisons have already announced or implemented pension scheme closures this year.