Employment News

Pensions Advice

The TUC has answers to more than 120 of the most common questions asked about pensions at workSMART, its world of work website, at: http://www.worksmart.org.uk/money.

Topics covered include material for people thinking about pensions for the first time, how to give yourself a pensions check up, and what happens if something goes wrong with your occupational pension. Every bit of pensions jargon is clearly explained, and the workSMART jargon buster provides handy definitions of pension and employment law jargon. Almost every answer provides links through to government, official or other trustworthy, independent sites for more material. Examples of questions answered include:

• Help! I know nothing about pensions
• Give yourself a pensions check-up
• What happens to our pension if my employer goes bust?

The new material on workSMART joins the already established pensions calculator, that allows you to see how much they need to save to get a decent pension, a union finder for people wishing to find the right union to join, comprehensive coverage of employment rights and a guide to keeping well at work.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said, 'The pensions crisis goes much wider than the closure of quality occupational pension schemes. Growing numbers of people at work have no access to a pension at all and need to make their own arrangements, and many young people faced with student loans and the cost of housing are putting off starting a pension.

'The legacy of pensions mis-selling still deters many, pensions jargon is often incomprehensible and many young people faced with student loans and the cost of housing do not have the cash to start a pension. And it’s hard to know where to go to get basic straightforward information about pensions from a trustworthy non-commercial source.

'This is why we have launched the new money channel on workSMART. It gives clear straightforward information about pensions, answers the commonest basic questions and tells people their rights when things go wrong. There’s no preaching, and our campaign material is kept entirely separate, but the more people know about their pensions, the stronger the lobby will be for a new pensions settlement.'