The
TUC will today (Monday 11 November) call on the Government to introduce
pensions employer contributions of 10 per cent.
Speaking
at a National Pensioners Convention Westminster rally, TUC deputy general
secretary Brendan Barber will urge the Government to take a radical approach to
pension reform and compel employers to contribute to pensions and make their
staff join schemes.
The
TUC wants the pensions Green Paper to recommend compulsory employer
contributions of 10 per cent of pay, if necessary phased in through a strict
timetable starting at 4 per cent. Employers would get the power to ensure
workers match this commitment by joining occupational schemes. The restoration
of the earnings link to state pensions would complete this three-way pensions
partnership between state, employees and employers.
Barber
will cite a YouGov survey, published on 5 November, in which two-thirds (59 per
cent) of respondents believed all workers should be required to pay into an
occupational pension and almost 80 per cent backed compulsory contributions
from employers.
Barber
said: ‘The employers said the minimum wage would be a disaster. They were wrong
then and they are wrong again on compulsory pensions savings.
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‘The
public have shown they will back compulsory pension saving just as they backed
the minimum wage. Employers are instinctively cautious about being required to
contribute 10 per cent of pay into pensions but this can be phased in, just as
the minimum wage is being, and a starting point of 4 per cent of pay is far
less than decent employers currently invest in staff pensions."
