Ultimately, the funding of a final salary scheme (a.k.a. Defined benefit scheme) is the responsibility of the employer. A defined contribution scheme, on the other hand, is down to the money markets and is much safer for the employer. Final salary schemes were manageable as long as relaxed tax and accounting rules allowed companies to use them to smooth out the peaks and troughs in their performance. Once those rules were tightened and a certain Mr G. Brown started raiding the funds for tax, they became untenable for most, though to be fair it was the ones that had been most poorly managed that collapsed outright. Some of the better ones survive, if on less favourable terms. I was in a final salary scheme for 7 years with a previous employer. The terms changed while I was a member and are not now as good as they were, but the scheme has survived and is still open, about 10 years after I left. Mind you, with only 7 years contributions I'm not expecting to get very much out of it.
