Originally Posted by
pax britanica
Companies avaoid making pension contributions whenever they can (so called holidays) even though it is straight from the 'University of Bleedin' Obvious' that lean years will follow good years
Actually the reality is different (as ever). Companies were never at liberty to just take contribution holidays - they were contractually obliged to maintain contributions. In the 1980s the Thatcher givernment accused companies of "hiding" profits in pension funds to avoid corporation tax, and theatened to tax the pension fund surplusses. Companies could only avoid this by approaching the regulator and getting permission to either (i) transfer money out of the fund back to the company or (ii) stopping contributions for a period to allow the surplus to dissipate. So the "pension holidays" were mandated by the Thatcher government, not greedy senior executives.
But hey, lets not pollute this thread with any actual facts - we've managed to get to page 4 without that happening so far...