Chancellor Alistair Darling should overhaul pensions rules to allow surplus, unused pension savings of one generation to be passed down to another to bolster subsequent generations' retirements, says Hornbuckle Mitchell.

In a letter to the Chancellor, Dave White, managing director of Hornbuckle Mitchell, said the Government can rejuvenate pension saving by using "vision and courage" to allow funds to be handed down.

"At a stroke this would give millions more people the confidence that money put aside today will benefit themselves or their families tomorrow.

"It will provide strong motivation for people to save over a working life to create a surplus in their pension fund."

He added that there would be little impact on Government savings, and the suggestion would see most people continue to draw income as now, but surplus would stay within pensions, subject to the overall lifetime allowance and income tax at the point income is taken.

"The single biggest cause of the pensions crisis is the assumption that the next generation will always be willing to pay the pensions of those now retiring. This has been proved a fallacy."

White believes that the rule change would encourage people to sort out their pension wealth, not only for themselves but for the next generations.

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