Older and wiser?
First it was old-fashioned company pension schemes for people who spent their entire working lives with one employer. Today, these are as rare (and as threatened) as the Natterjack toad.
Next came the pension reforms of 1988. Out went compulsory membership of company schemes. In came personal pension plans. "You're on your own" seemed to be the message. "Sort yourself out if you want a decent pension."
The trouble was that many people found it too much trouble to sort their pensions out. Or, if they did, they bought the wrong pension. They had high charges and, despite what the blurb said, less than total portability.
Meanwhile, the state pension continued to be down-graded. We are now only three years away from when Serps (the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme) reaches its down-grading target bottom level; and we are only 13 years away from when women's legal retirement age is raised to equal that of men, 65.
Now there is the Pensions Act; in force since April, it has had considerable impact on the administration of all occupational schemes. Employers groaning under this strain are now wondering what Frank Field, the new minister for pensions, will have to offer.
No wonder that industry-wide schemes have fast become the way forward - maximum flexibility, user-friendly and free from the legislative burdens.
The first breakthrough towards this industry-wide solution came with the realisation of a simple fact. While people change jobs frequently - every six or seven years is supposed to be the average - they do not change industries.
It makes sense when you think about it: who wants to throw away all their expertise and training and start again? Most people want to move to jobs in a similar line of business, only with more responsibility and higher pay.
The grouping of personal pension plans would be an answer, so that people could be encouraged to join a company's scheme; the company would not have to contribute to individual pensions unless it wanted to, and job-leavers would be efficiently dealt with by the pension provider, not clog up the company's administrative system.
However, cost remained a problem. Many personal pension plan providers charged hefty fees every time a member changed jobs. The answer here seemed to be an industry-wide scheme with collective buying power to eliminate many of these charges.
Other factors have also made a difference. As unemployment bottomed out, employment rose, producing different attitudes towards employees in the workforce. More and more employers were willing to help their staff towards decent pensions - if only it didn't cost a lot of money, if only it didn't take up all their time, if only they weren't lumbered with new administrative burdens stretching out into the distance.
It is fair to say that an industry-wide solution would either not have been developed, or would have taken much longer, if trade associations had not used their clout to make it happen.
Trade associations throughout the UK industry can (and do) help make the schemes friendly to the self-employed as well as employees, taking on part of the task of introducing staff to a new company group personal pension plan.
In this respect, the tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors cover the most mobile of all workforces which is, however, to a large extent unpensioned. Trade associations such as the BHA and the HCIMA will play a crucial role in promoting an industry-wide scheme that can meet all situations to enable easy movement within the industry, regardless of an individual's changing employment status.
There is now an industry-wide pension scheme, backed by the UK's biggest insurer, which stands alongside the "new wave" of low-charging pension providers. This presents employers with the opportunity of offering a pension scheme without costing time and money, the ability to attract and obtain the best people and, ultimately, the business virtues of being able to offer the business for sale, without buyers being put off by the need to take over corporate assets in the pensions field.
Many larger employers with various types of occupational pension schemes in tow often offer a menu of provision and the industry-wide group personal pension scheme will become a key element. This, together with the mobility factor within tourism-related sectors, will ensure the success of an industry-wide scheme - more and more employers will appreciate the need to offer this facility to recruit and retain the right people.
Barry Meloy is the managing director of Pensions Administration Service. For information about the Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure Industry Pension Scheme call: 0800 506065.
