Analysis of the market from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) shows many defined contribution (DC) pension pots are now worth less than the cash contributed into them and employers are facing the dilemma of dealing with costly defined benefit (DB) schemes carrying dangerous risks, or switching to DC schemes, which are not delivering.
Raj Mody, partner and chief actuary at PWC, said: "Employers are left between a rock and a hard place. It is no surprse most companies now offer DC schemes, given the unsustainable risk and cost of DB provision.
"Other scheme design options exist in principle but legislative change would be needed to make them work in practice for employers and employees. These designs operate by spreading risk between members as a collective group. This would still allow employers to control costs but give better predictability of retirement income particularly for older employees."
