Insider - Gambling with our future. Adair Turner has laid out his proposals to rescue state pensionS - but results are not guaranteed, warns Steve Folkard.

Publication: Accountancy Age

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COPYRIGHT 2005 VNU Business Media Europe

Byline: Steve Folkard, head of pensions & savings policy at AXA.

Despite much speculation in the run up to its publication, the Turner report pulled no punches, laying out ideas that now need to be turned into workable and affordable government proposals, through liasing closely with employers, unions and trade bodies.

It may not have been within the original brief for the Pensions Commission, but Turner appears to have addressed the difficult issue of state pensions reform in a balanced way. The report highlights the direct trade off that exists between extending the state retirement age and increases in public expenditure, which are ultimately funded through higher taxation.

State benefits currently cost approximately 6.2% of GDP. Even with a staggered phasing...

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