The global financial crisis sparked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, and the prospects of a prolonged global recession, have pushed pension issues onto the critical list for many UK companies. Interest in pensions has never been higher and this is reflected in the responses we received to the 2009 edition of our Global Pension Risk Survey which showed a much increased response over the 2008 version.

The 2009 response gives us an excellent representative sample of views on how attitudes to pension risk and broader pension issues have changed since the start of the financial problems, and what the prospects are for members of defined benefit pension plans.

Relevant issues arising out of the survey include the vastly changed view from sponsors on benefit provision and plan funding, in particular the second wave of plan closures - this time to all members, and a much greater desire to use alternative financing arrangements. The emergence of the longevity risk management market has also been noticed while one of the biggest changes of attitude has come in relation to the delegation of investment decisions.

This publication describes the principal findings from the 2009 Hewitt Global Pension Risk Survey as well as providing insights from the market and analysis from Hewitt.

To request a copy of the survey, or if you would like more information, please email us or telephone +44 (0) 20 7939 4370.