The Pension Commission will argue that the current State system is likely to cost more than the government is projecting and therefore its proposals are likely to involve smaller extra costs than the Chancellor fears, says the paper .
As the Commission's recommendations yesterday generated intense debate within government even before they have been published, Brown insisted that any future overhaul of the State pensions system must be “affordable”.
But Lord Turner will argue his Commission's proposals – which involve, over time, a more generous basic state pension – will cost little more than his estimates of what the current system will cost the government up to 2020.
After that, according to figures from the report seen by the Financial Times, Lord Turner calculates that his reforms would cost about £12bn a year in today's money between 2020 and 2045. Beyond that date, further rises in the state pension age, taking it above 67, could leave public spending roughly where it would have been without any change to Brown's current system.
SIR DIGBY Jones, the director-general of the CBI, has accused the government of craven surrender to the unions over public sector pensions and says that the cave-in by the Industry Secretary Alan Johnson has mortgaged Britain's future for £750bn, says the Guardian .
He called on Johnson and the Chancellor to rethink the deal that will allow existing public sector workers to continue to retire at 60 even though the retirement age in the private sector is already 65, and could rise to 67 over the next few decades if the government implements recommendations from Lord Turner's report due out next week.
"What saddens me is that a government which has prided itself on delivering a stable economy has just mortgaged the country's future for £750bn," Sir Digby said.
GOLDMAN SACHS is casting an eye over the assets of Equitable Life as the troubled mutual looks to dispose of its annuity and with-profits businesses, according to the Times .
The investment bank is believed to be looking at some of the more “difficult” assets held by Equitable, such as its policies with heavy guarantees.
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