Government promises "popular" pensions

Work and pensions secretary Alistair Darling wants to see major changes to the pensions system in order "to provide savers with the options they want, with the right safeguards, with the minimum fuss."

Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds conference earlier this month, Darling said: "It is clear to me that when people find it too difficult or too confusing to understand a pension, the pendulum has swung too far in favour of regulation and complexity."

The government is awaiting the outcome of three reviews to see how to proceed. All three are due to report over the summer. They are the Pickering review on simplification, the Sandler review of competition in the retail investment industry and Inland Revenue investigations on how to simplity the tax regime on pensions.