Leaders of the UK’s main employers’ groups have written to Tony Blair to express their “collective dismay” over the government’s pensions policy, and to demand an urgent meeting to discuss it.
In their letter, they warn that government policies are undermining private sector efforts to put pensions on a more sustainable footing and “storing up problems for future generations”, reports The Sunday Times.
The letter is signed by Sir Digby Jones of the CBI, David Frost of the British Chambers of Commerce, Martin Temple of the Engineering Employers’ Federation, Miles Templeman of the Institute of Directors, and the heads of other groups.
The business leaders’ main ire is reserved for the government’s recent decision not to increase the pension age for existing public sector workers from 60 to 65.
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“How is it fair to expect corporate and individual taxpayers in the private sector to pay twice for the emerging pensions crisis, by making sacrifices to their own retirement provision, while paying for the protection of public-sector employees’ pensions?” the letter asks.
The letter warns that the government’s response to the final report of the Pensions Commission, due on 30 November, must not involve any additional regulatory burden on business.
