The Harper government is moving forward with shared-risk pension plan legislation.

Junior finance minister Kevin Sorenson says plans will be created that will be federally regulated.

There have been two months of consultations on the issue and draft legislation will likely come before Parliament in early 2015.

Shared-risk plans have also been referred to as target benefit plans. They allow for both employers and employees to adjust their contributions and benefits – to reflect the financial state the plans are in.

Sorenson says shared-risk is needed because defined-benefit plans are becoming more scarce.

He says there are over 1,200 federally regulated plans, which include those for Crown corporations – and  both defined-contribution and defined-benefit plans would be able  to convert to the third option voluntarily.