TENS of thousands of employers are set to cut the contributions they make to their workers’ pensions as a result of the Government’s new pension reforms, the Liberal Democrats claimed yesterday.

The party said it worked out that 42,000 employers will make reduced contributions under workplace pension reforms announced yesterday.

Steve Webb, Liberal Democrats’ work and pensions spokesman, said: “Government boasts that its workplace pensions reforms will make everyone better off in retirement are fanciful.

“How will people be better off if their employers cut the money they put into their pensions?”

Katja Hall, the CBI’s director of employment policy, said: “The CBI supports moves to encourage more people to save for their retirement.

“However, discussions are still taking place about how these reforms will affect firms with existing pension schemes.

“The Government needs to ensure it does not make the system too onerous for companies who are already doing more than the law will require, or it could encourage them to cut contributions to the legal minimum.”