7% of employers against offering CDC schemes to workforce

More than a third of employers said they would consider offering collective defined contribution (CDC) for their employees to build up a pension, according to a survey from Aon

Just seven per cent of employers are against offering collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes to their workforce, according to polling from Aon.

The survey, which the firm undertook during a CDC session at its Virtual Pensions Conference, also found that more than a third (38 per cent) of employers said they would consider offering CDC for their employees to build up a pension.

Nearly half (48 per cent) of the session’s audience said they would consider offering a CDC pension to their DC scheme members at retirement, which Aon said demonstrated that the new style of pension scheme was gaining significant support among the UK pensions community.

Aon head of collective DC, Chintan Gandhi, said: CDC is still an entirely new form of pension design in the UK – and one that isn’t even properly here yet. Nevertheless, the support shown in this polling testifies to how the UK pension industry is seeing the potential value that CDC can provide to both employer and member outcomes.

It was great to see that 38 per cent of employers would consider providing their employees with a CDC pension and the advantages of its features. These include a target income for life in retirement from fixed cost DC savings, delivered in a way that saves employees from having to make complex financial and investment decisions, Gandhi said.

Furthemore, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries recently called on the government to showcase CDC schemes to employers as part of a host of risk rebalancing measures earlier this month.

Gandhi concluded: CDC has clearly had a long gestation period but the first set of regulations and guidance on ‘own trust’ CDC schemes are set to be in force by the end of 2021. Further regulations and guidance covering wider forms of CDC, such as multi-employer and decumulation-only designs, including through master trusts, will soon follow. The dawn of a new pensions era is finally upon us.