Woolworths raises retirement age for pension joiners

Woolworths
is to raise the age at which new members of its final-salary pension scheme can
retire from 60 years of age to 65.

Woolworths
said that raising the retirement age meant it could afford to keep its
final-salary pension when rivals were abandoning theirs.

The
retailer, which employs 30,000 staff, is just another in a long line of
employers changing pension previsions as longer life expectancy and lower
investment returns have made financing pension schemes too costly for companies.

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Crises
in company pension schemes recently forced the Government to instigate new
guidelines to protect scheme members from losing their pensions benefits.

By Michael Millar