P&O workers losing their jobs warned of risk that could wipe out pension pots

Hundreds of P&O Ferries workers laid off last month are in danger of switching their retirement funds into less generous alternatives, financial experts are warning

Laid-off P&O Ferries workers are being urged not to make risky decisions that could slash the amount of cash they retire on.

Last month P&O Ferries laid off hundreds of employees over video call, with remaining staff ordered off the boats with just a few minutes notice.

Some of the laid-off staff are now at risk of making decisions about their pension that could hit them in the pocket, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulator.

Many P&O staff have defined benefit, or ‘DB’ pensions.

These pensions give a guaranteed, often very generous, payout in retirement . They are also known as ‘final salary’ pensions.

But now the FCA said it has “concerns” that some of these workers may be worried about their pensions and try to transfer them into new schemes.

This comes with a massive risk that the new pension is worse than the old one.

As a rule of thumb, almost no workers with DB pensions will be better off switching, because most of these pensions are much better than modern-style defined contribution (DC) alternatives.

The FCA, along with the Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) are all urging P&O workers to be careful.

An FCA statement said: “The FCA and TPR warn that transferring out of a defined benefit pension scheme is unlikely to be in the best interests of most people.

“Savers concerned about their pensions, or who are considering transferring out, should seek impartial guidance from MoneyHelper, run by MaPS.”

The FCA also issued a warning to P&O staff about the dangers of getting duff financial advice on what to do with their pension.

Many DB pensioners were given bad advice to transfer into worse pensions by advisers with a vested interest in pushing so-called ‘DB transfers’.

A high-profile example was British Steel, where 47% of workers in this position got unsuitable advice and a further 32% got unclear advice.

About 8,000 steelworkers, many from South Wales, transferred a total of about £2.8billion from the firm’s scheme when it was overhauled five years ago.

The FCA said: “Current and former employees of P&O seeking financial advice should first check if the adviser is on the FCA’s register and their services include ‘advising on pension transfers and pension opt-outs’.

“The FCA has information on what to expect when seeking advice on its website. Savers can find out how to spot and avoid a pension scam on its ScamSmart pages.”

Different sorts of workplace pensions explained

Currently Brits get two main sorts of workplace pension – defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC).

DB pensions were once very common.

But as life expectancies rose and investment returns fell, DB pensions started to die out in favour of less generous DC ones.

Most workplace pensions are now DC.

But now a new sort of pension is being launched – collective defined contribution (CDC).

These are basically a halfway house between DC and DB pensions, but are meant to give better payouts than DC ones in retirement.

In this country, Royal Mail staff are the guinea pigs for Britain’s first CDC scheme, launching this year.