Pensions and savings schemes as part of flexible benefits ''should be easier to understand''

Savings schemes such as pensions and Isas used as part of flexible benefits packages should be easier to understand, an expert has suggested.

Dr Ros Altmann, an independent pensions and savings specialist, said the current system was too complicated, especially in light of recent changes for top earners.

She said that combining Isas and pensions "would be a very good idea", so that "the pension is just the bit you get from the state and the rest is private savings, built up over your lifetime".

New savings concepts could then be introduced, Dr Altmann said, which offered incentives other than tax relief.

"Many people do not actually understand the tax relief anyway," she added.

A report by the Centre for Policy Studies released this week suggested that there should be an automatic enrolment scheme for pensions, which people would have to opt out of instead of opt in, as Britain is facing a potential pensions crisis.
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