UK – The Employers’ Retirement Association is relaunching in a bid to “change with the times”.

The body, which has existed in its current form since 1981, acknowledges that “the world in which it now operates is very different from that of the 80s and as such the focus of the Employer’s Retirement Association needed to change with the times”.

The association underwent an audit which it says showed there is a role for a service to provide advice and support to organisations.

“Following this research the new ERA has developed into a service which can enable organisations to better serve their pensioners,” ERA said in a statement.

“There is an opportunity for the new ERA to facilitate services which have an ultimate cost saving for the companies as well as relieving some of the administration burden.”

It says it want to become a channel to link member organisations to services and information sources. It has begun discussions with firms such as Watson Wyatt, SAGA and Prudential.

The association is to be re-launched at a presentation in London tomorrow attended by pensions minister Malcolm Wicks. Wicks has challenged employers to provide better information to employees about pensions. He wants them to include details of employer pension contributions in payslips, and provide pension information in recruitment material.

"We welcome any steps to raise awareness about pensions," said Tim Keogh, European Partner at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. "However, any additional information provided should be helpful and meaningful, and details of employer contributions to final salary schemes could be misleading."

Keogh added: "In final salary schemes, employer contributions are not directly related to what members will take home as a pension. Contributions are averaged across the membership, and are likely to be overstated for younger members and understated for those about to retire."