Lord Turner, chairman of the UK's Pensions Commission, has said that the body's final report into the country's pensions crisis is "not a bible", and he admitted that some big issues on pension reform remain unresolved.
Lord Turner was speaking in an interview with the Financial Times in which he admitted that increasing the basic state pension in line with earnings – rather than prices – and introducing a 3% contribution from employers to the proposed national savings scheme remained key hurdles.
However Lord Turner told the newspaper that he now thought the government would adopt the bulk of the report’s findings, despite chancellor Gordon Brown’s well publicized reservations about the plans.
He acknowledged the impact that the compulsory employer contribution could have on small businesses: potentially, the 3% ceiling could up labor costs by 1%. However Lord Turner believes that savings generated by reform of the current second state pension would enable government to subsidize small businesses to help them cope with the added charge.