Urgent reforms vital to boost pensions
We are 20 to 30 years late in making urgent changes to address the pensions' crisis facing the UK, according to the first report by the independent Pensions Commission.
We are 20 to 30 years late in making urgent changes to address the pensions' crisis facing the UK, according to the first report by the independent Pensions Commission.
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The Commission estimates that over 12 million working people aged 25 and over are not saving enough for retirement. Of these, 60% are not contributing to a private pension at all. The report emphasised the problems will be more ‘severe’ over the next 15 to 25 years.
A combination of higher taxes and national insurance contributions, a higher retirement age and a push to save more are vital to addressing the pensions’ crisis.
Adair Turner, Commission chairman, said: ‘Society and individuals face a huge challenge, but one that can be overcome.
‘We must now make adjustments which we should ideally have begun 20 to 30 years ago. And to get policy right we need to look comprehensively at all aspects of the problem. Too often in the past, under successive governments, pension policy has addressed specific problems without a clear overall context. This has had unintended and adverse consequences.’