With the pension scheme loans (secured loans) deficits escalating in the UK, the pressure is beginning to tell on a lot of private companies, which are considering a revision of their pension schemes to more economic ones.London (Seek UK) January 6, 2006- The pension scheme deficits of Britain’s top 350 listed companies rose from £75bn in 2004 to £93bn last year, according to the actuarial firm Mercer.

This elevation has been observed despite a reported 16% rise in the values of stock market, which boosted the assets of many schemes.Mercer attributes this increase in the cost of paying pensions to low returns on bonds and a longer living workforce.

This increased deficit has prompted many private-sector companies to revise their pension schemes. The last decade itself has seen a lot of employers close their final salary schemes to new members. Last month, Rentokil said that it wanted to close its final-salary scheme for new members as well as the entire staff.

The present deficit scenario has sparked fears that many employers will also start moving their staff into more economic schemes that are less profitable to the employees. Co-operative Group and Arcadia are among the first few companies to announce their plans for revising the pension schemes.