Pension tensions

Proposals for all employers to pay a compulsory contribution to staff pensions would be costly and damaging, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) has warned.

It has asked the Select Committee of MPs reviewing pensions to take account of the impact on small firms, which account for a huge number of employees in the country.

The Turner Report on pensions recommended that employers contribute a minimum of three per cent of salary to staff pensions. An FPB survey found that 70 per cent of SMEs could not afford such an increase in overheads.