Darling must not dodge opportunity to help pensions savers

The Government can help millions of people saving for retirement by ensuring more of the borrowing it needs to balance its books also meets the long-term needs of pension schemes, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has told the Chancellor of the Exchequer ahead of next week's Pre-Budget Report.

This single measure would help members of both defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, including those with group personal pensions and group stakeholder pensions who could see higher annuity rates as interest rates (that is, the yield on Government bonds) rise.

Defined benefit scheme members would be helped as pension fund deficits would fall, placing less strain on companies that provide these pensions, and pension schemes match their investments with their liabilities. According to the NAPF's recent Annual Survey, pension schemes said this was the single most effective way the Government could help them continue providing a defined benefit pension for their staff.

NAPF Chief Executive, Joanne Segars, said: "Pensions have been placed under considerable strain during the recession and the Government has a golden opportunity next week to improve the retirement security of millions of workers paying into their company pension.

"It's an opportunity the Chancellor cannot let pass by."