WORKERS' Co-OPERATION ENLISTED.
The new pension ideas"now being developed into many individual pension schemes in Great Britain are being received with a maximum of support and co-operatiop on the part of- the workers for whose benefit they are devised. Nearly all of them meet the two requirements which experts consider necessary for a completely accept'. able scheme : they are contractual and contributory. This means that the pension benefits are guaranteed not by the employer but by one of the great life assurance companies, whose business it is to make such contracts. It also means that the employees themselves contribute towards their pension and other benefits under the scheme, the proportion of cost between employer and employees usually being about half and half.
The amount of pension, life assurance, and other benefits under the best modern schemes depend, of course, on the amount of the joint contribution towards the scheme's funds by the employer and the workers, but it may be stated broadly that a minimum scale of pension provides an annual pension of 1 per cent. of wages multiplied by the number of years of service in the case of wage-earners, and 2 per cent. of salary multiplied by years of service in the case of salaried employees.
Group life assurance is provided by the best schemes, the amount of assurance being roughly equal to one year's earnings. The theory of group assurance, whether in connexion with a pension scheme or otherwise, is that it serves to continue, in effect, the worker's wage envelope or salary cheque for a year after the death of the individual concerned, thus tiding over dependents during a period which often involves difficult readjustments.
Group life assurance will be more. fully discussed in later paragraphs, but it may be said here that many British firms, finding it inexpedient to institute pension schemes for all their employees, are adopting pension plans for their staff and group life assurance alone for their works employees. Generally in such cases the hope is held out that the pension scheme will at a later date be widened to include all employees.
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