DIRE warnings of the problems facing pensioners today and the pensioners of the future were delivered by RMT yesterday.

The continuing abolition by bosses of occupational pension schemes and failure of state pensions to increase in line with wage increases have already left one in six older people in Britain struggling to survive on less than £175 a week, with six million, mainly women, receiving less than £10,500 a year.

But the future would be even worse and state pensions would be even more vital than today, said Tony Geraghty of RMT’s retired members section.