I can, by the way, confirm that in my shiny new contract it is still mentioned that the employee pays 5%. But it is totally unclear wether the 12% they mention is what BA will pay, or that BA will just add another 7% to get to the 12%.
Fact: at Martinair (owned by KLM), the company contribution is 25% of each month's basic salary. And the employee is not forced to pay own contributions if not desired.
In most airlines I hear from, the percentage (employer) varies from 8% till 20%.
And if you want, you can ALWAYS get the whole sum at the end of your career if you want. Not sure if this is possible at BA too...
Anyways: I very much like this new pension scheme for the fact that the contributions are put in a private acount of a fund. Thus cannot be touched if BA would ever be in serious trouble. What is contributed every month, is yours. For sure: that's why they call it a group insurance.
Reassuring in a hostile aviation world I'd say.
If they get the percentage (employer) up to a reasonable level (and the employee's down to a free choice) , I am happy...