Pensions Follow

Thousands of workers at Corus are to be balloted on industrial action over the steel group’s plans to close its final salary pension scheme to new entrants.

New figures on pensions and pay show that Britain’s top bosses are not sharing the pain of the recession. Ordinary people have seen a swathe of attacks on their pay and pensions.

Unite and PCS union members at IT services giant Fujitsu have voted overwhelmingly to strike in national consultative ballots that closed last week.

Some 25,000 Unite members at Barclays bank are about to ballot over the bank’s decision to close its final salary pension scheme.

Former workers at Visteon face a new battle to protect their pensions.

The recession is disproportionately hitting older people as well as the young, with the number of pensioners going bankrupt almost tripling in the last five years.

Why is there such a battle over pensions?

When the Daily Mail announces that "this is the worst time in living memory to retire" things must be bad.

Company bosses escalated their attacks on workers’ pensions last week as Aon, the world’s biggest insurance broker, announced it would slash its contributions to its final salary scheme in half.

Around a sixth of Britain's population – some 11 million people – are pensioners. Yet the basic state pension is just 15 percent of the average wage, down from 25 percent when pensions were first paid in 1909.

If the Royal Bank of Scotland had been allowed to go bust the bank’s former boss, Sir Fred Goodwin, would be on a pension of £20,000 a year. That’s what he’d be entitled to from the Pension Protection Fund, the safety net this government was forced to put in place for when company pension schemes collapse.

The state pension is 100 years old this month – but new research shows it has plummeted in value over the past three decades. And the financial crisis is set to make this situation even worse.