Personal pension take-up must rise

IRELAND is ahead of Britain in tackling its pension problem, but the take-up of personal pensions still needs to be improved, the Pensions Board said yesterday.

A British taskforce warned yesterday that workers faced a trade-off between poorer pensioners or higher taxes, higher retirement ages and higher levels of pre-retirement savings to cope with Britain’s pensions time-bomb.

But a younger population, coupled with policy initiatives started over six years ago, left Ireland in a better position, according to the Pensions Board, the government-sponsored agency that aims to improve pension coverage and awareness here.