Employees urged to apply for pensions "while stocks last"

Employees who are interested in company pension schemes should apply now while they're still available, an industry expert has claimed.



Des Hamilton, the technical director at the Pensions Advisory Service, said that it may be "a question of 'buy now while stocks last'" for many workers ahead of the closure of many more schemes.

His comments came after a survey from the National Association of Pension Funds revealed one in ten private sector final salary pension schemes closed to new members in 2006 and 67 per cent are now closed to new employees.

According to Mr Hamilton, the opportunity for joining remaining schemes "may be taken away in the future because companies say 'we don't suddenly want the other half of our workforce coming into the pension scheme and the increased cost that comes with that'."

Many employees favour the schemes as they calculate a retirement income based on final salary and years of service, although most public sector final salary schemes are still open to applicants.

Mr Hamilton said that many private sector firms were closing their final salary schemes due to cost as most schemes were in deficit and companies were having to put in extra money over a number of years to cover this.

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