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RHA adds pensions
Page 13
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• The Road Haulage Association is launching a contributory pension scheme for its 11,000 members and their employees to coincide with the introduction of new legislation on pensions next year.
Under new government regulations which come into effect on 1 January 1988, all employees must make provision for a personal pension scheme. This may, or may not, be met by the current State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS), at the discretion of the employee.
An employee can also choose to either stay in an existing scheme arranged by his company, or opt to leave that scheme and take out an individual pension plan.
The RHA says that those companies which do not already operate a pension scheme for their workforce will have to administer those chosen by their employees. According to the RHA these "may be many and varied. It follows that employers will want to deal with as few pension plans as possible. The best way of achieving this will be for employers to offer their employees one scheme which will be attractive to them."
The RHA's pension scheme will be operated by the insurance company Bain Clarkson on behalf of RHA Insurance Services, in which BC holds a 50% stake.
Employees' contributions will be based on a percentage of the employers' own contribu tion, and taken out of wages like tax and national insurance.
Bain Clarkson's Peter Taylor gives a typical example of a driver paying around 60p a week after tax relief and national insurance rebates are .taken into account.
According to Taylor, a person joining the scheme in their early twenties and working until 65 is likely to get a third of their expected final salary per year plus state pension, and SERPS where applicable.
The RHA claims its pension scheme will also have "higher than normal interest rates" — which could be around 13% — and will be simple for its members to run. "All he really has to do is to arrange for premiums to be collected," says Taylor.
"All annual statements will be supplied by RHA Insurance Services, which will also gain the necessary Department of Health and Social Security approval for the scheme," he adds.
The scheme also includes fife insurance cover "normally without medical examination", and special life assurance premium rates.