Workers putting too little into pensions

By Simon Challis, European Insurance and Funds Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - Employees are contributing too little to defined-contribution work pension schemes to support themselves well in retirement, according to a survey by consulting firm Mercer.

Although contribution rates have risen slightly in the past five years, at current levels most employees will get more pension through state benefits than they will from their company pension scheme, Mercer said.

Many people are unaware of how little their occupational scheme will pay them in their retirement, it said.

More than 50 percent of respondents to a survey conducted by Mercer last year said they expected to get a pension of more than half their pay on retirement.

But at the current average contribution rates revealed in its latest survey, the average employee with 30 years' service is more likely to get a pension worth only around 20 to 30 percent of their salary, said Mercer.

Employees are on average contributing a total of 10.4 percent of their salaries to defined-contribution pension schemes, a slight increase from the 9.5 percent in 2002 when Mercer conducted its previous survey.

Of the 10.4 percent, employers contribute an average of 6.8 percent while workers put in an average of 3.6 percent, Mercer said.

"If people want a good level of pension they must be looking at a minimum of 15 percent (overall), while somewhere nearer 20 percent would be more sensible," said Tony Pugh, Mercer's UK head of defined-contribution pension services.