Gap widens on public vs private pensions The figures have been released just a day after a firefigher strike over proposed changes to their pensions. Some 32,000 firefighters staged a four-hour strike to protest against government plans to force pension scheme members to work to age 60. In the private sector, workers have been given little choice as final salary schemes have closed or benefits have been watered down. The numbers in final salary-style pensions that remain open to new recruits has more than halved since 2007 and is down by 85pc since 2000, the ONS report showed. Will Aitken, an analyst at pension consultants Towers Watson, said: "Employers are still grappling with the costs [of final salary pensions]. For many, closing the scheme to existing members as well will at least be on the agenda. Most of those now making contributions to a pension are saving into a so-called defined contribution scheme. Unlike a final salary pension, the amount of money a pensioner receives depends on how much is put into the pot during a working career, investment returns, and interest rates at retirement. These schemes are far less generous than final salary equivalents. Employers have deemed final salary pensions to be unsustainable and have started pushing employees into these alternatives. The ONS figures show that employer contributions to a final salary-style scheme were 15.2pc in 2012, but only 6.6pc for defined contribution alternatives. The numbers of people saving into these second-class pensions are about to balloon. Reforms implemented by the Government in October 2012 will see nine million more people signed up to a workplace scheme by 2018. They will be enrolled automatically by their employer. Despite falls in the numbers in final salary schemes, the total number of people with a workplace pension rose by 400,000 in 2012, compared with 2011, the ONS said. Yet there were fewer "active" members paying into their pots, with the numbers of those adding money falling to 7.8 million in 2012, compared with 8.2 million in 2011 and a peak of 12.2 million in 1967. This suggests that many people have scaled back their retirement provision as budgets have been squeezed in the wake of the financial crisis, experts said. This is a correction from the figure shown in a previous version of this story.