FTAdviser.com

Advertising

The pensions experts have called for better adult education opportunities to enable older people to remain in work.

Speaking at the Actuarial Profession's annual pensions conference held in Leeds Alan Pickering, chairman of Bestrustees plc, said: "We have to provide opportunities for people to work longer by offering access to lifelong learning.

"The emphasis on education needs to be taken away from universities and more needs to be spent on adult education."

Mr Pickering said a cultural shift was also needed to encourage older people to remain in work.

He said: "Retirement should not be a default when people reach the age of 65. People should not be pushed out of the workplace when they are in their prime."

Also speaking at the conference Joanne Segars, chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds, argued increased regulation had forced a number of employers to ditch their final salary pension schemes.

She said: "While we all recognise that these decisions are based on a range of factors, not least the cost of people living longer - indeed the Pensions Commission noted that the cost of providing such a scheme has doubled in the five decades since many were first introduced - a large measure of responsibility rests with successive governments that have ratcheted up the cost of provision through waves of regulation."

Ms Segars called on the government to "radically reform" pension regulation that enabled employers to offer workplace pensions to meet the needs of a modern workforce.

She said: "While the government has made some helpful changes, I am sad to conclude that ministers have not taken this issue seriously enough."