Radical overhaul of pensions law is needed to resolve the pensions crisis,
according to the National Association of Pension Funds.
In a report last month it called for the scrapping of compulsory retirement
ages and the abolition of rules limiting employees from joining more than one
pension scheme. The report, Pensions – Plain and Simple, backs the Government’s
move to encourage phased retirement by removing tax rules preventing employees
receiving pay and pension from the same employer.
It recommends axing rules limiting the amounts staff can pay in to their
pension.
"Today’s pension system is weighed down by red tape and jargon which
puts off workers from thinking about pensions, storing up potentially massive
problems for the future," said NAPF chairman Peter Thompson.
n Employers are not moving quickly enough to defuse the pensions time-bomb,
Sam Mercer, campaign director for the Employers Forum on Age, told delegates to
the CIPD annual conference held at Harrogate last month.
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They had "moved from a position of ignorance to awareness… But the next
move has to be action," she warned.
EFA research showed around 80 per cent of employers knew that employees
would have to work longer than they wished in order to receive the pension they
expected.
