Amicus, Britain's largest private sector union's reaction to the leak on Lord Turner's committee findings

18 November 2005

Amicus General Secretary, Derek Simpson, said: "If the 'leaks' about Lord Turner's Pensions Report are correct, then Amicus is pleased that it takes on board our calls for compulsory contributions."

"Amicus will not support any opting out and will remain firmly opposed to any increase in the retirement age. While we support an increase in the basic state pension any increase in retirement age will be opposed by Amicus. The statistics show that working longer leads to earlier deaths, and should not be seen as the solution to the pensions crisis."

Amicus has taken the lead on pension matters. The union has been campaigning for pensions compulsion for five years and was responsible for the introduction of Pension Protection Fund (PPF) set up to protect occupational schemes pensions and for the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), set up to assist those people who have lost most or all of their life's savings through their employers insolvency.