THE British Chambers of Commerce organisation has chosen Prudential to be its preferred stakeholder pension scheme provider.

Details will be given in a marketing and communications campaign to members of 61 accredited Chambers of Commerce across the UK.

They include the Bolton & Bury Chamber, which has about 1,160 local members.

The agreement follows the announcement in July that Prudential has been selected as the commercial partner for the Trade Union Congress (TUC) stakeholder pension scheme.

Mr Chris Humphries, BCC Director General, said: "It is our aim to make the Chamber Stakeholder Pension scheme a benchmark against which others will be measured.

"We have undertaken an exhaustive search of the market place to find the best scheme for Chamber members and their staff, in terms of marketing and distribution support, cost, funds and systems capability."

He added: "Small firms are facing increasing administrative pressures and it is, therefore, important that their stakeholder scheme is as easy as possible to set up and administer.

"By signing up to the BCC scheme, small businesses across the UK will be able to avoid the cost and effort involved in choosing a pension provider and scheme for their staff."

Mr Jonathan Bloomer, Prudential's Group Chief Executive, said: "This is a significant step in our aim to be the nation's leading provider of stakeholder pensions.

"We have a very compelling stakeholder proposition and our link-up with both the BCC and the TUC gives us a strong foothold in the market."

Stakeholder pensions will be introduced by the Government in April, 2001.

These schemes will provide a low cost, privately funded supplement to the basic state pension.

It will be obligatory for many employers with five or more employees to provide access to a pension.

This must meet the standards of the stakeholder pension, such as low and transparent charging (one per cent per annum maximum).

Employers have until October 2001 to make a stakeholder scheme available.