Final salary pensions now 'extinct' for private sector workers - as state staff enjoy 'gold-plated' deals

Lucrative private sector final salary pensions are on the verge of extinction with four out of every five schemes now shut to new employees.
Increasing life expectancy, spiralling costs and plunging stockmarkets have forced thousands of employers to close these schemes in the last year.
The figures highlight the widening divide between private and public sector workers who enjoy 'gold-plated' pensions funded by the taxpayer.
A separate report by the Office for National Statistics showed the number of public workers in final salary schemes has ballooned to an astonishing 5.2million – the highest level since 1991.
Findings by Aon Consulting revealed that in the last year the number of private sector schemes open to new members dropped from 27 per cent to a record low of 17 per cent.
The figures came as financial experts warned that private sector workers will soon pay more into the pensions of civil servants than their own.
An analysis found that private workers contribute 91p towards the retirement of town hall staff for every £1 they invest for themselves.
This figure, however, is expected to rise as unions sew up deals to safeguard the 'gold-plated' retirement deals.
It would take the average private sector worker on a salary of £25,000, 46 years to get a pension of £10,000 a year. A public sector worker could achieve this in 24 years.

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