If you want the value of benefits such as your company car to be included in your pension when you retire, you should negotiate this upfront with your employer.
Generally what happens is that your pension fund contribution, as well as that of your employer, is based only on your salary and possibly on your bonus.
The issue of whether benefits should be taken into account for pension purposes was raised before John Murphy, the pension funds adjudicator, by two retired members of the African Oxygen Pension Fund.
Chris Caffin and Dennis Dooling asked Murphy to rule that their present pensions should be adjusted to take into account the value of the company car which they each enjoyed as part of their remuneration package.
They also argued that the fact that contributions to the fund did not take into account the value of the company cars is a failure on the part of the pension fund trustees to properly exercise their discretion.
Up until their retirement, their pension fund contributions were based only on their salaries and 13th cheques.
Murphy says the contribution rate is central to the financial viability of a pension scheme as a whole.
The rules in a defined benefit pension fund make up the goals and objectives of the financing arrangement.
In order to meet its members' expected benefits, the fund has to rely on certain assumptions provided by actuaries.
"Undoubtedly the actuary has advised the fund to set its contribution rate to meet the anticipated benefits," Murphy says.
"Caffin and Dooling were aware that their contribution rate did not cover the value of the company vehicle.
"They should have started negotiations, or a process of collective bargaining, to ensure that the value of the car was included in their pension calculations."
Presumably African Oxygen would have been willing to agree to such a demand, in exchange for an agreement to increase the contribution rate proportionately.
As a result, the pension funds adjudicator was forced to dismiss the complaint.