The Pensions Board today launched its 2006 Annual Report and presented a copy to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Martin Cullen TD.
The Report indicates that the total membership of occupational pension schemes at end 2006 was 797,370, an increase of 8.5% compared to 2005. 95,045 Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) were in existence at the end of 2006 compared to 68,257 at end 2005. The workforce total was 2,075,000 in February 2007. The Report says that the adequacy of contributions to defined contribution arrangements continues to be a concern, while the risks associated with heavy investment in equities is an important issue for both defined benefit and defined contribution schemes.
Pension Coverage
The Pensions Board strategy statement identifies that an essential element of the pension regime is the measurement of progress towards the achievement of coverage targets.
As part of the schedule of surveys agreed with the Central Statistics Offi ce (CSO), the results of the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) (full survey) IV, 2005, published in December 2006, showed that the overall coverage by occupational and personal pensions of all persons in employment was 55.0% (compared to 51.2% in Quarter I, 2002). The percentage coverage for those over 30 (the group to which the ultimate National Pensions Policy Initiative target of 70% refers) was 61.8% (compared to 57.8% in Quarter I, 2002).
About 934,000 members of the total Irish workfoce have no pensions.
Speaking at the launch, the Chief Executive of the Pensions Board, Brendan Kennedy, said: "Looking back, 2006 was another busy year across all our areas of activity - regulation, policy and information. We supervise about €90 billion of pension and PRSA money and were glad to see that overall compliance levels continue to improve."
"The Board will continue to work to ensure that standards are further improved and will make use of the new on the spot fines regime when it commences later this year to ensure our objectives are met."
Kennedy continued: "The main policy achievements during the year included the publication of the National Pensions Review (NPR), the Special Savings for Retirement report as well as our role as technical adviser to the Green Paper on Pensions."
The Annual Report also refers to the recent Review of Trusteeship which has recommended that the current trust model of pension scheme governance should be retained, but changes need to be made to further enhance member protection and support trustees in their very important role.
"The Board, through its National Pensions Awareness Campaign and its general information services, has made significant progress in raising the levels of public awareness of pensions and pension adequacy. However, the Board cannot solve the issues of pensions take-up and adequacy on its own, and everyone concerned with pensions must focus on this problem," said Kennedy.
Pensions_Board_Annual_Report_Accounts_2006.pdf (2691 KB)
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