FINAL salary pension schemes are generally considered unaffordable and the public sector has been slower than businesses to address the problem, the Guernsey Association of Pension Providers has said.

Chairman Stephen Ainsworth (pictured) reacted yesterday after Lord Hutton released his report announcing plans to reform the UK’s public sector pension scheme, which will see workers contribute more and work longer for a less generous pension.

But Mr Ainsworth confirmed that an average earnings scheme – suggested by Lord Hutton – would probably generate a better pension than the defined contribution schemes that the majority of private sector workers receive.

‘It is a fair statement that over recent years in the private sector – both Guernsey’s finance sector and outside – employers have been reviewing their final salary pension schemes because the costs of them have gone up very significantly and employers have decided they are unaffordable,’ he said.

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