Pensions - Articles - 'Crazy' EU pension plans could cost UK 180,000 jobs says CBI

 Proposed pension funding safeguards from the EU could strip 180,000 workers of their jobs and cost UK businesses £350 billion, warns the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

 The European Commission (EC) wants to impose a funding regime for pensions that would force employers to divert billions of euros into defined benefit (DB) schemes.

 Under the proposed Solvency II regulations employers would have to have enough money set aside to continue paying benefits even if they encountered financial difficulties.

 CBI chief policy director Katja Hall said imposing the costs on businesses would be a disaster for the UK economy and for pension saving.

 “The long-term economic outlook is so fragile and uncertain that it is crazy to entertain proposals which would cost jobs and cut so deeply into our long-term growth and competitiveness,” she said.

 “Workplace pensions are vital to ensuring people have enough money for their retirement when life expectancy is rising – so future generations are not hit with huge bills or driven into poverty. The EC’s wrong-headed proposal will do nothing to help us cope with the burden of retirement.”