According to leading trade union and political people, the system of voluntary private pension schemes has failed and compulsory private pensions are unavoidable. The chairman of the Lords Economic Affairs Committee, Lord Peston, has said that an ageing population and a widening pensions gap has led the committee to the conclusion that means testing should be removed from the state pension system, and a later retirement age was essential.
The committee also agreed that more Government intervention was needed to help resolve the shortfall in pensions. A suggestion by the committee was that the government should set up an index-linked 'savings vehicle' for people to invest in equities through life companies.
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