THE Kent branch of the Institute of Directors (IoD) has come out in support of a rise in the state pension age, together with the restoration of the link between earnings and the basic state pension.

It agrees that the pension age needs to rise in order to make the system affordable and is sensible and crucial to reform of the pension system.

The nature of compulsion, however, is a cause for concern for the IoD, which claims the Government is risking destabilising the pension system.

Alyson Howard, chairman of IoD Kent, said: "The Government needs to provide unequivocal assurance in the legislation that it will not raise the compulsory contributions of employers in the future. The legislation must be seen to support good quality employer provision.

"If, having established the principle of compulsion in law, future Governments go on to increase the rate of compulsion on employers, many will exit from pension provision full-stop."