Pensions Commission chairman, Lord Turner, has revealed plans to release a third report to answer critics of his solutions to Britain’s looming pensions crisis.
The commission’s second report recommended that the state pension age rises to as high as 69 by 2050.
Giving evidence yesterday to the work and pensions select committee of MPs, Turner said a scaled-down Pensions Commission would continue to exist until March 2006.
“We imagine that at the end of March we’ll produce a slim sign-off document, responding to the various discussions we’ve had and clarifying some points,” Turner told the committee.
He said that he and other senior members of the commission would also attend public debates being organised by the Department for Work and Pensions for the new year.
Turner implied that the commission had also delayed the implementation of its National Pensions Savings Scheme until 2010 because it did not want to introduce an error-prone system such as that of the Child Support Agency.
“It’s more important to get it right for the credibility of the system than get it done one year faster,” he said.
He hinted that the government needed to raise the public sector pension age or pay its workers lower benefits if it was to retain voters’ confidence.
The government was criticised recently for backing down on plans to raise the retirement age of current public sector workers from 60 to 65.
