The government is planning to scrap the default retirement age in the UK from October 2011.

Under the proposal, employers would not be allowed to dismiss staff because they had reached the age of 65

Maybe the BBC could give advice

So how long until they start building mortuaries in office blocks?

So how long until they start building mortuaries in office blocks?

With the state of Britains pensions it was necessary to make this change. People simply are not putting enough away for their retirement so they have to work longer or spend their retirement in poverty.

Which is not the fault of the goverment.

I think this is a good thing (as long as it creates more choice, rather than forcing people to continue working) however the timing is poor due to the high levels of unemployment.

Actually governments of all persuasions raided pension funds and the Tories allowed pension holidays and capped the surpluses at 5% that funds were allowed to have. The impact of this move meant that companies were forced to take pension holidays and pushed their corporation tax take up. I will not blame government solely but the insurance sector have to accept some blame for being over optimistic regarding growth of pension funds. Almost bordering on mis-selling. Though governments have to accept the prime blame because they create the market for savings and pensions. If they deter pensions though low tax and do not set minimum pension contribution rates.

I agree – esp Gordon Brown when he raised the dividend tax break that pensions had – gave him an extra 5 Billion to give away / waste which was invisible and painless to people at the time. Naturally you can’t take that amount of money out of the system without it affecting people’s pensions later on

The system needs root and branch reform with both more incentives to make people save and make it compulsory for them to take out a private scheme (either through their company or by themselves) once earnings are above a certain level

Gordon's raid on the pension funds was the most egregious tax raid. Pensions don't vote, and they had committed themselves to freezing income tax rates. I agree about root and branch reform.

If people are going to retire on 67% of final salary then they need to put away nearly 40% of their salary each year. Governments will not allow that because it will cripple the economy. Hence the problem. They allow a few people to have pensions beyond salary but if everyone had the same level of savings then the economy would collapse as people are saving so much. In fact with interest rates so low there is no point buying an capital protected annuity because it generates so little income. You would need a pension pot several hundred times your final salary to actually have a two thirds final salary pension.