News Article - 14 April 2008
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Changes to the UK's pensions system will lead to the closure of a significant proportion of company pension schemes in favour of personal accounts.

The government is introducing the new personal accounts in 2012 and a new poll indicates that seven per cent of company pension directors are planning to close existing pension schemes.

According to financial services firm Fidelity International, 300,000 pension scheme members could lose their private sector occupational pension as a result of the changes, aimed at encouraging more Britons to save for retirement.

Simon Fraser, president of the Fidelity International investment solutions group, stated: "We recognise that everyone is striving for the same goal but action needs to be taken now to mitigate the risk of the pension crisis deepening."

Fidelity estimates that at least 300,000 people will be stripped of existing pension benefits as a result of the introduction of personal accounts and is calling on the government to demonstrate greater flexibility in its pensions model.

Ministers have called on employers to operate personal accounts alongside existing pensions, but many companies are choosing instead to look into closing company schemes instead.

The survey of 100 finance directors by Fidelity also found that one in ten respondents were not aware of personal accounts. SME accounting software can help smaller businesses to monitor their pensions schemes and comply with changes to the current system.

Article keywords: The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is calling for views on whether the Combined Code on Corporate Governance is effective.<br/><br/>In order to establish how relevant and useful the code is, the FRC has launched a consultation exercise to determine whether it has helped improve board performance.<br/><br/>Additionally, the FRC is hoping to gauge the code's impact upon smaller listed companies and how effective its explain or comply mechanism is.<br/><br/>FRC chairman Sir Christopher Hogg said: &quot;The feedback we have received to date suggests that, while there are some points of concern, the code is working reasonably well and having a broadly beneficial impact.&quot;<br/><br/>He added that amendments would not be proposed without clear justification and separate consultations would be launched if any changes were proposed.<br/><br/>In related news, the FRC has announced that it will publish an update on choice within the audit market in May, following which a stakeholder meeting will be held to discuss how efficient the market is for audit services to bigger businesses.<br/>

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