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Abstract

The thesis attempts, within a multi-disciplinary framework, to ascertain the most likely structure and coverage of occupational pension schemes in the twenty-first century. One of the events that signalled that there might be a change in pension coverage was the Social Security Act 1986, which allowed employees the freedom not to join their company occupational schemes. T he Act also created the personal pensions market by allowing employees to contribute into an individual personal pension plan that they could transfer from employer to employer throughout their working life. Another event was the issue o f security of occupational pension schemes after the Maxwell case; the third event was the increasing awareness of the issue of equal pensions for men and women in employment. These events were set against the emerging flexibility in labour markets.

After discussing the development of the State Pension Scheme from the rationale behind the creation of the Old Age Pension Act 1908 to the Social Security Act 1986, the relationship between the origin and development of the Occupational Pension Scheme was examined, together with the role that tax legislation played in shaping Pension Schemes. One of the main differences in pension provision in the twentieth century is the change in the role of women from being regarded as financially dependent on men to their emergence in the labour markets.

In Part 11 of the thesis a survey was identified as the most appropriate research method. A stratified random sample was used, to the same weighting as GAD for reference purposes, of employees in companies with occupational pension schemes. The questionnaire ascertained employees' attitudes to their pension provision, retirement age, contribution levels and dependants' benefits. Responses were correlated by age, gender and employment status. Using SPSS (cluster analysis) respondents were analysed, grouping cases according to the degree of similarity exhibited.

Age of retirement emerged as a theme from the empirical research and was examined from an historical and social perspective. The relationship between the State Retirement Age and that used in Occupational Pension Schemes was considered. The results of the empirical research suggest that 'flexible retirement' age is overwhelmingly the most popular choice, i.e. the majority would like to be able to choose the age at which they retire. One of the other main findings was fne high propensity of employees to join their company schemes.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HA Statistics H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance
Departments:	Bayes Business School > Actuarial Science & Insurance > Statistical Research Reports Bayes Business School > Bayes Business School Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses

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