An interesting subject, Chris but not one which will directly affect participants of this site for some years!
The key question is how we wish to divide our income between our working years and our pensionable years. As lifespans over 65 increase, this places a demand on individual and national wealth in terms of both longer pension payments and greater depedance on Social Services and the NHS.
Really, this should be an individual decision - the normal age could be set at 68, but if individuals wish to contribute extra to the pension fund in order to retire earlier, this should be catered for.
I believe that all pension funds should be taken into public ownership and merged with the existing schemes for public sector workers which provide a defined benefit (e.g proportion of average or final earnings) based on the number of years of contribution to the fund. A single scheme, incorporating the existing state pension, and open to variation in contributions (and therefore benefits) would be fair to all. It could also cater for those who become unfit for work, and/or have lower standard retirement ages for those occupations where employees need to be particularly fit.
A scheme on this basis would provide a basic adequate pension which does not rely on levels of contribution, supplemented by earnings related pensions according to contributions.
Society and individuals need to consider the balance between level of standard contributions (and general taxation to cover basic pension) resulting in lower income during their working life vis a vis enhanced pensions during their non working years.
