The Government has welcomed the Turner report into pensions, but has warned that the UK faces stark challenges in providing for increasingly long retirements.
The interim findings of the Government’s Pensions Commission found that more than 12 million people are not saving enough for retirement and that an extra £57m a year needs to be pumped into pensions through government and private funding to fill the gap.
Alan Johnson, secretary of state for work and pensions, said: “This report brings home the message that people must either save more or work longer.
“In particular the analysis shows that occupational pension contributions and membership has been steadily slipping for at least two decades. These pressures have been largely unnoticed due to stock market exuberance.
“This is why we must continue our programme of rebuilding confidence in pensions, for example, through the creation of the new Pension Protection Fund, as well as giving people the information they need to make choices about pensions and rewarding people who choose to work longer,” Johnson said.
