THE TUC said today Britain had gone backwards in its pension provision as employers walked away from their responsibilities.

In his New Year message, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said only one in four private sector employees was now a member of a good occupational pension scheme.

He said the downward trend was likely to continue, adding that while many firms had already shut their final salary pension schemes to new members, Rentokil Initial recently announced plans to close its scheme to existing members as well.

He said: "Pensions will therefore continue to top the trade union agenda.

"Rentokil will have rung alarm bells in every workplace with a decent pension."

He said there was wide support among unions for many of the basic elements put forward by the Pension Commission, chaired by former head of the CBI Lord Turner.