07 March 2011
It has been report in the Financial Times that the Greater
Manchester Pension Fund has seen a rise of over 50 percent of
workers opting out of the scheme in the past year.
The number of opt outs rose from 773 to 1,210 for 2010 and does
not include those who never chose to join the scheme in the first
place.
Peter Morris, director of pensions at Tameside metropolitan
borough council, which operates the Manchester fund, said that
based on anecdotal evidence, workers were opting out of pension
savings as real incomes were squeezed by wage freezes and high
inflation.
The Hutton report on public sector pensions is due out on
Thursday. It is widely anticipated that a rise in employee
contributions will be recommended.
