Retirement inequities extended - Cut pension age

It is not surprising that only six-in-10 workers have a private pension.

After all, private pensions were among the great losers of the 2008 collapse and, despite the patchy economic recovery, prospects for many remain unwaveringly grim.

That reality, and housing costs, means that investing in a pension is another day’s work, despite encouraging tax-relief schemes.

Government plans to make enrolment in workplace pension schemes automatic from 2022 might be morereassuring if investors were not to be thrown on the mercy of the unreliable commercial pension sector.

Pensions are divisive, exacerbated by plans to raise the State pension age to 68 and, in time, maybe further.

Private sector workers will be obliged to wait until they are 68 to enjoy an essential State contributory pension, which they have paid for over many years and expected to get at 65.

The suggestion they apply for the dole in the interim is as offensive as it is wrong. This denial does not apply to public sector workers. Trade unions, if they are to be credible, must insist the pension age be restored to 65.