Battleground on pensions

THE state pension is the bedrock of most people's income in retirement, yet it may be even more valuable than people realise.

- Harvey Jones

While the new state pension only pays a maximum of £11,502 a year and many on the basic state pension get much less it would be hard to replicate this from your resources.

A pensioner who uses their combined pension pots to buy an annuity at retirement would need a staggering £223,434 in savings to generate the same level of income, according to new research from fund manager Fidelity. In fact they would need even more than that because people typically buy an annuity with the money that remains after taking their 25 per cent tax-free cash.

Someone who did that would need a pension of £297,912 to replace a £11,502 state pension. Yet the average saver aged between 55 and 64 has only £107,300 in pensions, according to the Office for National Statistics, leaving them way short.