The real decision-makers behind Britain’s company pension schemes lurk in the boardroom rather than the pension manager’s office.

The findings of the annual survey of the Confederation of British Industry, the body representing the UK’s business leaders, certainly make for some interesting reading.

Despite the shutdown of final salary schemes to new sign-ups, most company bosses retain a belief in pensions.

While only 9 per cent believe companies should offer a final salary scheme to all staff, 56 per cent think a defined contribution (DC) plan should be offered and 84 per cent think that companies should play a role in raising employee understanding of retirement issues.

Company pension schemes are also seen as aiding employee recruitment and retention and enhancing company profiles, according to a large majority of chief executives.

But at the same time, bosses are unconvinced that their staff value pension schemes as much as they should (that is, as much as the bosses think they should). In particular, UK executives believe DC plans are under-valued.

One way around this is better communications over the benefits of a company scheme.

A pension consultant commented he would advise companies to spend 9% of salaries on pension contributions and 1% on communicating the benefits of the company pension scheme, in preference to spending all 10% on the pension plan alone.

The business survey also touched on another aspect of UK company pension provision.

Because many companies have had pension schemes for a long time and due to company transactions and reorganisations, many firms have a mix of old and new schemes.

One consequence of this is that staff in a single overall corporate structure may have different pension arrangements.

With older employees in more generous final salary plans, this is leading to fears of ‘pension apartheid’ (the term is also used to describe the growing gulf between still lavish public sector schemes and tighter private sector plans).

One third of bosses said they were concerned that differential pension provision would hurt employee morale and motivation. The catch 22 here is that better communication here could exacerbate this situation, as employees learn more about their pensions.

No doubt companies will make their moves to redress these problems on a case-by-case basis.

And while pension managers will be consulted and listened to, the final call will be made by the chief executive or finance director, with an eye on budgets, cash flow and corporate results.