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IMMI
Page 12
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Easier out than in
The ageing regulars at the Mermaid Tavern have been discussing pensions — and it seems their drivers don't want to know. Peter Lamer shares a pint and finds out why.
Bill Heath arrived late at the Mermaid Tavern last Friday, having been at a meeting with his drivers about pensions. In an effort to improve driver retention he had agreed with the shop steward to introduce a pension scheme.
Hampstead thought it was surprisingly difficult to convince his workforce that relying on the state pension was no longer sufficient. But, at a time when everyone particularly the government-should be promoting pensions, there seemed to be a lack of confidence in them.
Mush had experienced similar problems with his drivers. who faced a mountain of paperwork including a 20-page 'decision tree' document for completion. And once he had convinced his workforce to join the scheme, the pension companies still had to ensure that applicants were allowed a cooling-off period and given cancellation notices in case they changed their minds.
Faced with the prospect of filling in a questionnaire, many workers never actually get round to starting a pension. Pork Chop's meat fleet drivers actually had an occupational pension scheme. Entry to the scheme was made as easy as possible but even after the drivers had thrown a six to start, they had the opportunity to withdraw their contributions for up to two years if they changed their minds.
"Faced with the prospect of filling in a long questionnaire, many workers never get round to starting a pension"
He reckoned that some of his employees were simply using the pension plan as a savings scheme. Typically, 18 months into the scheme a driver's daughter got married, or he fancied a nice holiday, and the money was withdrawn and spent.
In the circumstances, nobody was surprised that the Department of Work and Pensions reported a decline in pensions last week. Before Labour came to power 57% of men contributed to private pensions, but by last year this had fallen to 46%.
We all agreed that this trend would continue while the system makes it easier to leave a pension scheme than it does to join one in the first place.