A crisis of trust in the pension system The annual survey of occupational pension schemes published recently by the Office for National Statistics made deeply disturbing reading. It showed that, last year, about 100,000 people stopped paying into a workplace pension. Since 2007, almost 13,000 private sector workplace schemes have shut, and the membership of those that remain is at the lowest level for 60 years. An estimated 11 million people are saving too little for their retirement; and while pension saving has fallen across all age groups, the decline has been steepest among those between 22 and 29. There is, quite simply, a crisis of trust in our private pension system - one that is compounded by the constant tinkering of successive governments with the tax regime. In his Autumn Statement on Wednesday, George Osborne reduced the annual tax-free saving ceiling from £50,000 to £40,000, the second cut in two years. While this might have played well with the Liberal Democrats, it simply added to the deep uncertainty surrounding pension investment. And it is this unpredictability that is at the root of the crisis. Millions of workers have already been hit by the closure of their final salary schemes, wrecked by a combination of Gordon Brown's tax grab, increasing longevity and declining stock markets. Meanwhile, people on lower incomes - who find it hard enough as it is to make ends meet - are even more reluctant to pay into a pension whose value could be affected by arbitrary government action. This collapse of confidence has happened at the very point in our national life when it is more important than ever for people to save for their retirement. We are an ageing population. One person in six is over 65 and there are 900,000 more pensioners than just a decade ago. By 2030, there will be six million people aged over 80. For a country whose national debt is forecast to rise to £1.5 trillion over the next five years this is an alarming combination: an older population, fewer people saving and less money in the Treasury for benefits and care. It is, therefore, imperative that the provision people make for themselves is able to produce sufficient income for a comfortable and lengthy old age. Yet, over the years, raids by the Treasury and excessive charging by pension companies have caused massive damage, exacerbated by declining stock markets and historically low interest rates. The recent introduction of automatic pension enrolment is a sign that the Government is taking this issue seriously. But if confidence is to be restored, Mr Osborne should go further and give an absolute assurance that it will stop targeting the nation's savings.