IBEC: Urgent need to reform pension rules

IBEC Director General Turlough O'Sullivan has warned that unless the funding rules governing defined benefit pension schemes are urgently reformed, a number will collapse, with benefits being severely restricted.

Mr O'Sullivan said: “It is time that the Government and the Pensions Board as the regulator, faced up to the serious difficulties that defined benefit pension schemes are facing. The current obligation on schemes to be 100% funded on a discontinuance basis is not sustainable."