PENSIONS BY NUMBERS

Out of a UK workforce of 29m,

3.4m private sector employees contribute to workplace pensions, 2.4m of them looking forward to salary-linked pensions

5.3m public employees are paying into salary-linked schemes

6.4m workers are paying into personal pensions, which are NOT linked to salary

So 15m are actively contributing to pensions, or 51%.



The typical (or median) public sector pension pays £5,600 a year, compared to £5,860 from similar private sector schemes.

But only 12% of private sector employees are contributing to salary-linked schemes, compared with 87% in the public sector.

42% of the private sector workforce (including the self-employed) contribute to some form of pension scheme, including personal pensions and other schemes where there's no promise of a particular level of retirement income.

With a typical personal pension pot of £30,000 a saver could buy an inflation-proof pension annuity of £1,115 a year.


For reference:
The workforce is 29m strong.

You can split this into:
23m private sector, 6m public sector
25m employed, 4m self-employed
21m full time, 8m part-time

Sources:
ONS Pension Trends, Sept 2011
ONS Labour Market Statistics, Nov 2011
NAPF Annual Survey 2010
Hutton Report
Hargreaves Lansdown

Public sector pay is 7.8% higher

Critics of the public sector will be grinding their teeth at the sight of the public-private pay gap widening even further.

This is extra ammunition for those calling for public sector cuts and lower pensions.

However, the bald figures come with a health warning.

After years of contracting out, staff are more likely to be teachers or nurses than cleaners and caterers and many more have degrees.

Statisticians have to try to adjust for that.

Plus, they warn that most private sector bonuses and perks aren't counted in the comparison and nor are self-employed lawyers, businessmen and entrepreneurs.