The UK government’s ‘personal accounts’ have been left by the wayside and are due to be delayed by four years.
This is the way that the government are dealing with the current pension deficit. The plan was that employees would make contributions of 4% of their salary, employers to make 3% contributions and the government would top up the final 1%. However there seems to be issues with this system and it is not likely to be ready until 2016 at the very earliest.
Pensioners are struggling to survive with their current pension plans, whether they be personal or state schemes because of the annuity rates crash but the government seem to have simply thrown a wet flannel at a house fire. The government had promised to address several issues with pensions over the last decade, but as yet nothing concrete has been done.
It seems that despite the protestations of the government, ultimately it will fall on the shoulders of pensioners – future and present – to look after their retirement funds. The fact that more tax deductions were made to the pensions industry meant that income that would have been reinvested for the future is no longer available.