Suggestions that people may need to work later in life have come about because they are simply not saving enough, it has been said.

Pension expert Ros Altmann revealed that there has been success in keeping people alive longer, although employers are still "throwing everybody on the scrap heap".

"Somebody needs to stand up and have the courage to say that this is not about working till you drop but about working two or three days a week so that you have money to spend on your time off," she suggested.

Pensions alone are not going to save the pensions crisis, Dr Altmann emphasised, due to the lack of ability people have to save.

Governments must continue reforms to ensure that public and private retirement income provision is socially as well as financially sustainable, suggested a report from the OECD.

Those with long periods in defined contribution, private plans and British workers nearing retirement will feel the greatest impact of the recession on their pension plans, it found, with stocks making up most of pensions’ portfolios in English-speaking countries.