The Retreat of Employers
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2017
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For many people, the workplace pension has been the crux of a decent income in retirement - a guaranteed sum paid for the whole of your non-working life. Stockmarket fluctuations, our increasing longevity and well-meaning changes to pensions policy by successive governments have helped make these sorts of schemes unaffordable. At the same time, something equally fundamental has been happening to the structure of the workplace as well as the nature of the relationship and expectations between employer and employee.
The last 10 years has seen the closure of 60% of schemes which would guarantee you a 'wage' in retirement. Since 2012 a system of auto enrollment has instead required all employers to offer a pension that employees are opted into by default. But these come without any assurances about future pay outs and contribution rates are low.
So what role do employers' pension schemes now have in providing us with a comfortable retirement?
Presenter: Adam Shaw Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Andrew Smith.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy. |
| 0:05.4 | My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:10.8 | The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that. |
| 0:17.5 | With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts |
| 0:21.9 | to helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're |
| 0:27.8 | all put together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music |
| 0:33.5 | in your life, check out BBC Sounds. This is the BBC. |
| 0:41.1 | Hi, I'm Brooke and I'm taking part in a series of programmes Moneybox are running this summer. |
| 0:46.8 | In this Moneybox program, we look at the role of the workplace in providing an income for us in |
| 0:51.6 | retirement. In the last couple of decades, there's been a huge amount of change. |
| 0:56.4 | Final salary schemes which delivered a guaranteed income have been closing. |
| 1:00.1 | At the same time, the introduction of auto-enrollment has meant that 10 million more people |
| 1:04.7 | are now saving something towards retirement. |
| 1:07.9 | You can download the podcast now, search online for Moneybox. |
| 1:12.5 | Or you can listen on the Radio 4 website and in the IPlayer radio app. The series is called The Death of Retirement. |
| 1:18.6 | There are more details on the Radio 4 website. |
| 1:26.0 | Well, the sounds may be a clue to where I am |
| 1:29.1 | because I am in a rowing boat by the River Medway, |
| 1:32.4 | which is a more appropriate place to start a programme about pensions |
| 1:36.3 | than you might think. |
| 1:49.9 | In this series, we're asking, are we facing the death of retirement? |
| 1:55.8 | Can we any longer afford the long life of leisure many people enjoy in later years? |
... |
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