Policy makers ‘can help pensioners’

Policy makers may be able to help retirees through the current pension crisis if they act now, one specialist has suggested.

Ros Altmann, an independent pensions expert, revealed concerns that those in power may find it difficult to empathise with those suffering financial problems.

“The reason I am afraid is that policy makers themselves don’t face the same pension problems because they are protected by their bullet-proof public sector pension,” she said.

Ms Altmann also urged policy makers to show “vision and courage” in dealing with existing problems in the current system.

According to a recent report from Policy Exchange, the liability of unfunded public sector pensions is estimated at more than the national debt and could represent £1.1 trillion when using established financial calculations.

The study, Public Sector Pensions: The UK’s Second National Debt, also discovered that it costs approximately £45.2 billion each year to service the amount owed.

By Francis Finch