LONDON (AFX) - The recommendations of the Turner Pensions Commission, if implemented, would put as many as 50,000 life and pensions jobs at risk and cost UK businesses 4 bln stg a year, at least in the short term, a leading accounting firm said today.

'This could also have a knock-on effect on their ability to offer other capital intensive savings and protection products such as annuities,' said Mark FitzPatrick, head of the insurance practice at Deloitte.

'This group have the existing expertise and infrastructure in place to effectively administer the programme, which would enable the government to introduce the national pensions saving scheme much more quickly,' he said.

'They are already meeting the cost of plugging the holes in their own pension schemes, and now face the additional cost of compulsory contributions to all employees' personal accounts,' said David Robbins, a partner in consulting at Deloitte.

'A 3 pct contribution is a lot lower than the level typically paid by an employer into a good company pension scheme and the proposals may therefore act to reduce the amount of pension savings for some groups of employees,' he added.

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