UK -- British trade unions responded to Monday’s employer task force (ETF) report on pensions by calling for compulsion to be part of any long-term solution to the pensions crisis.

“It's time to stop good employers who make a proper contribution to pensions being undercut by those who refuse to pay up, the TUC said in a statement.

Yesterday the ETF, headed by the former boss of the Sainsbury supermarket group Sir Peter Davis, reported that the current voluntary approach to pensions in Britain is in the ‘last chance saloon’ and warned that “drastic solutions” were needed if Britain wanted to maintain its current voluntary system.

However, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber responded by saying: “We cannot rely on the voluntary efforts of employers to provide pensions any longer.”

Earlier, shadow work and pensions secretary David Willetts highlighted a part of the ETF report that noted the uncertainty caused by the current structure which meant that employers considering automatic enrolment for employees in a pension scheme could later be accused of mis-selling.

“Something is seriously wrong if employers are afraid to sign people up for company pension schemes in case they are accused of mis-selling,” Willetts said.

“The current system of pension saving is so fragile that it might well be in the ‘last chance saloon’, he added. “But instead of compelling people to save in a bad system, we should get to the root of the problem. That means reforming state benefits and offering new incentives to save.”