Corp UK faces ?45bn demand from pension trusts
Companies could face the burden of ?45bn a year from pension trusts as Britain slumps into recession
Aon, the pension
consultancy, warned yesterday pension trustees are likely to demand £45bn a year
from UK companies for the next five years, after research showed final-salary
pension schemes faced a £225bn bill because plummeting asset prices were
fuelling existing pension deficits.
The consultancy firm is forecasting 2009 will be the bleakest year yet for
companies with shortfalls in their defined-benefit schemes. It urges the
Pensions Regulator to relax until the economic turmoil is over, the rules which
allow trustees to force companies to lift their contributions, to cover the
deficits.
‘The last thing companies need at the moment is another cash call,’ Marcus
Hurd, Aon head of corporate solutions, said.
‘Cash is the very thing everybody is in short supply of. Just as employers
thought the economic news couldn’t get any worse, they are likely to be hit by
big bills to pay for their pension schemes. ’
Further reading:
Pension funds bear brunt of credit crunch
losses