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TUC gives guarded welcome to pension proposals

Pa
Wednesday 30 November 2005 06:39 EST
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The pensions report was welcomed by the TUC, which described it as "bold and hard-headed".

The general secretary Brendan Barber said: "It sets politicians - and all of us involved in the pensions debate - a real challenge to create the consensus needed to implement its radical agenda.

"Of course, in such a detailed report there are proposals that we do not like, and other areas where we would have liked it to go further.

"We remain opposed to any proposal to increase the state pension age that would make manual workers and the poor worse off. They should not have to pay for a new pensions settlement.

"But the clear majority of the conclusions are undoubtedly progressive, and meet the tests we set in advance.

"Linking the basic state pension to earnings and introducing compulsory employer contributions are both extremely welcome. The report clearly offers women a better pensions deal.

"No one group was ever going to have all its policies adopted today, and there are no doubt some proposals that can be improved.

"But there are no pain-free solutions to pensions. Employers, employees and the state, through tax revenues, must all play their part.

"The great danger now is that a combination of vested interests who did not get their way, opposition politicians looking to make mischief and an underestimate of voters' willingness to back radical policies kicks today's report into the long grass.

"The real divide is between those who want to use today's report to build a new, fair pensions settlement and those who do not."

Paul Kenny, acting general secretary of the GMB union, said: "A uniform, compulsory retirement age of 67 is simply not acceptable. There is no way the GMB will go along with raising the state retirement age to 67 and we will actively campaign against this."

Liberal Democrat pensions spokesman David Laws said Lord Turner's " analysis is correct and that his long-term vision for Britain's pension system is the right one".

Means testing must be replaced by a universals, higher state pension, Mr Laws said.

"The choice is between an affordable but unsustainable means-tested system of the kind favoured by Gordon Brown, versus an affordable and sustainable system as proposed by Lord Turner.

"We must now have an assurance that the Chancellor will not be allowed to single-handedly veto the emerging consensus for reform. The state pension system is not the property of a single political party, let alone a single member of one political party.

"The Liberal Democrats are willing to play a constructive part in securing cross-party consensus, but there needs also to be a cross-Cabinet consensus."

Mr Laws added: "It is also time to reform public sector pensions to make them both fair and affordable."

Mervyn Kohler, of Help the Aged, warned that kicking the report into the long grass "would be a failure of epic proportions".

"The Pensions Commission has made proposals to improve the state pension which are welcome but urgent if we are to address the poverty in the present generation of our older population," he said.

"What's most remarkable about the report is the growing consensus around the need for a decent state pension linked to earnings, and the inadequacy of a means-tested alternative as a sustainable, long-term approach.

"Informed by the Commission's report, it is now time to set aside other divisive arguments and embrace the need to compromise for the good of pensioners who are struggling in poverty today and those who look with trepidation to retirement tomorrow."

Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern England, said the Government needed to act "quickly and decisively" to avoid millions of ordinary working people and their families being poorer in retirement.

He said: "We support Turner's emphasis on having a more generous state pension system and the recognition about the need to improve the situation for women, carers and lower income groups.

"Age Concern believes that Turner is right to say the solution to the pensions crisis must be a combination of more tax, longer working lives, and higher private savings.

"But to win public support for reform, people will need to see a clear connection between what they pay in and what they get back in retirement. And reforms must be fair to different generations, and people with different life and work experiences.

"The Government's pensions policy stalled for three years after the publication of its Green Paper on pensions.

"The Turner Report has re-ignited the debate and passed the baton back to the Government. A clear timetable for action is now needed to protect future generations while continuing to tackle poverty among today's pensioners."

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