STAKEHOLDER pensions have failed to plug the gap left by the decline in occupational pension schemes, research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has found.
The study showed that less than three per cent of workers in the North-East had taken out a stakeholder pension, and they were saving less than half the amount needed to provide a good pension when they retired.
The TUC estimated that people in the region would see a shortfall of more than £3,000 a year in their pension schemes.
The study also found that take-up of stakeholder pensions was poor, with about three pensions taken out for every hundred people at work - 40,000 for more than one million workers in the North.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "There is nothing wrong with stakeholder pensions in theory.
"They are a good investment for anyone who does not have a quality occupational pension.
"But these figures show that they are failing to take up the slack caused by employer retreat from good pensions. Few people have taken out a stakeholder, and those that do are not paying enough into them.
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