People are being urged to plan for retirement with a range of measures announced by the government including new rules regarding company pensions schemes. Among the measures is an on-line calculator designed to help people make informed choices about their future.

Under the plan, new employees would be automatically enrolled into their company pension scheme unless they opt out from joining.

Industry reception to the idea of enforcing employees to make a positive step to opt out of pension saving has so far been positive this morning.

Susan Anderson, Director of human resources policy at the Confederation of British Industry said: "Employers are pulling out all the stops to find a way out of the current pensions crisis.”

"There is a lot of evidence that automatic enrolment works, which is why an increasing number of employers are moving in that direction. In a sense, these proposals are piggy-backing on what companies are already doing.”

"Take up rates of around 90 per cent are not uncommon where employers have moved in this direction. Elsewhere, employers offering generous occupational schemes have expressed frustration that employees do not take advantage of the benefits on offer."

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said, "Many of the government's proposals to improve the take up of pension schemes are welcome. In particular, the automatic enrolment of employees into occupational pensions would be a step in the right direction towards a more compulsory system.”

Better forecasts

The government also wants people to have frequent and better pension forecasts. Work and Pensions Secretary Andrew Smith said:

"The state of your pension should be as important as the state of your health - we want to provide people with the tools to make informed choices about their future."

"The decisions people make about retirement are among the most important they face. We all get a lot of information on pensions, but too often we don't understand how it relates to our own retirement prospects.”

"Government must help provide people with trustworthy, individually-tailored information that simply explains their situation and the options available to them."