The government is being urged to simplify the current pension system to ensure that the poorest members of society don’t face poverty in retirement.

Steve Bee, head of pensions strategy at Scottish Life, has voiced his concerns about the poor take up of pensions credits and the complexity of the system.

He said, ‘If pension officials find the system so complex that even they cannot get the payments right, how is the average pensioner going to know whether they have got the right amount?

‘We should have a simple universal pensions system where you receive a set amount when you reach state pension age. If this was set at a decent level and every pound you save makes you a pound better off than a non-saver, we could scrap most of the current system and its associated costs. Everyone would understand it and everyone would benefit from it.’