The PLSA's DB taskforce has been exploring the concept of DB pension scheme consolidation, member Kevin Wesbroom has revealed.

Speaking at the PLSA Annual Conference, Wesbroom stated that “there are 6,000 DB schemes in the UK, which is about 5,500 too many”.

“If you started again it seem difficult to believe that we'd invent a system where you have 6,000 individual schemes, each grappling with their own set of problems, each replicating this many times over across the whole UK pensions industry,” he explained. “Small schemes are also generally characterised by poorer governance.”

Therefore DB scheme consolidation has been discussed within the DB taskforce, he stated.

“The issue is almost not 'should we do it', but 'how could we do it'?” Wesbroom added.

A audience poll during Wesbroom's speech found 80 per cent of PLSA delegates agreed that smaller schemes should be encouraged to join larger arrangements in order to improve member outcomes, with just 7.3 per cent disagreeing.

A DB taskforce report revealed at the PLSA conference today found that DB members face losing 15 to 20 per cent of their benefits in the current "fragmented" system.

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