Reform says government is in pension denial
13 July 2010The independent think tank Reform has accused the government of being in denial over the need to amend the pensions system.
Reform said there was a great opportunity for change.
Speaking at the Savings and Protection conference today (13 July) Dr Patrick Nolan, the chief economist at Reform said pensions were just going to get more and more expensive.
Dr Nolan said: "If we don't start to get to grips with the cost now we are going to still be here in five years time.
"40 per cent of the welfare budget goes on pensions and that is only going to get more expensive."
"If we keep the current arrangement of pensions by 2050 the government would have to find an additional £160bn in tax revenue."
Dr Nolan added that it was a big mistake to commit to indexing the core state pension to the increase in wages and not on prices.
He said: "While in principle that was the right thing to do, basically we cannot afford it. The problem is the government is not looking far enough in terms of the cost."
@reformthinktank
