|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
Stakeholder
pensions 'missing target' BBC
news online The government's low-cost
stakeholder pension schemes are failing to reach their target audience,
according to a study.
According
to research firm Datamonitor, the schemes are being used mostly by
existing pension holders and wealthy customers. These
people are attracted by their cheap charges and tax advantages. 'Cannibalising'
business According
to the research, the take-up of stakeholder pensions is not generating new
business but is in effect "replacing" sales of other types of
pension plans. Group
pensions and personal pensions have suffered reduced new business due to
the introduction of stakeholder pension, and stakeholders have added very
little new business. During
2002 sales of individual new stakeholder plans increased by 76.4%, while
the number of work-based stakeholder schemes sold increased by 80.6%. But,
despite the big increases in these markets, the total pensions market
still decreased in value. Switching
resources "The
stakeholder pension was created to encourage savings from those people
with no real retirement plan," said Liz Hartley, the report's author.
"It
was aimed at lower earning and self-employed workers to help cut "Datamonitor's
research, however, shows this not to be the case. Despite the growth of
stakeholder pensions, the total pension market has decreased. "Thus, to a large
extent, stakeholder pensions are cannibalising existing retirement
provision."
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
The
pension schemes were launched in April 2001 to help people on low incomes
save for their retirement.