It may already be too late to prevent the looming pension crisis, according to the conclusion reached by the recently published Turner Report. Crisis is an overused word but it is perfectly appropriate in this case.

Why has this come about?

The impending disaster cannot be blamed entirely on the post World War II baby boomers - the UK has underestimated the increase in overall life expectancy.

In 1950, the average man retired at 67 and looked forward to another 11 years of life. Only 18 per cent of his adult life was spent in retirement.

By contrast in 2004, with the average age of retirement starting at 64, and with another 20 years of life to come, the average man spends 30 per cent of his adult life in retirement.

Couple this increased life expectancy with a falling birth rate and, by 2050, the proportion of UK people over 65 will have increased from 28 per cent to 48 per cent.

This means that the smaller tax paying work force will be supporting a much larger retired population.

The shifts over the last decade from public to private pension schemes linked in the main to stock market performance has meant that private sector pension funds have suffered so much that thousands of hopeful contributors now face a bleak future.

By 2050, the current Government's spending plans will serve to increase the amount of the country's overall wealth spent on state pensions by very little.

The UK state pension scheme, already one of the least generous in the developed world, will decline further.

Who will this affect?

So who will this affect the most?

The losers will be middle-income workers in the private sector, part-time workers, women, the self-employed and employees of small businesses.

This is because most of these are dependent upon the state pension scheme.

The only winners will be those in the public sector - teachers, nurses, police, local authority employees etc - and the "fat cat" bosses who closed down their workers' final salary schemes but managed to retain their own generous pension contracts.

The pension gap between public and private sector workers will widen.

As time goes by, inequalities in pension provision are likely to become a serious social issue in the next 40 years unless remedial action is taken.

And what is this to be?

Number 10 Downing Street has ruled out any quick fix, knee-jerk reaction before the next elections. Options remain few and politically very sensitive.

n The retirement age could be raised to 70, to increase the tax paying working population.

n State spending on pensions could be raised.

n Savings by individuals could be substantially increased - either compulsorily or voluntarily.

Each of these is an "impossibly large task".

Few will welcome working until they are 70, increased taxation to fund increased state spending is a political hot potato and to save enough to cover the shortfall is well nigh impossible.

Pension savings would have to increase considerably and begin at an early age - if you do not start saving until you are 30 your pension will be 40 per cent less than if you started at 25.

Noah prepared for his flood with the Ark. Our parents saved for a rainy day. We have to mobilise for a tsunami.