Baroness Castle condemned ministers for delay and "repeated postponements" in publishing their green paper on pension reform.

And she claimed that the "wilder ideas" of welfare reform minister Frank Field have proved financially impossible.

Lady Castle was social services secretary in Harold Wilson's government and has been a long-time campaigner for pensioners' rights.

Speaking at question time in the Lords, she said "the Government and the Cabinet are deeply split over this matter."

She said she and others had been supplying information to this government and the last one for two years, having been told it was needed, while ministers set up pilot schemes into what everyone already knew was the position.

Pensioners "cannot wait any longer", she warned.

Call for immediate action

She urged the Government to make a firm decision on pensions policy in time for next year's uprating of the basic pension, and restoration of the earnings link.

The green paper is to be followed by a period of consultation after it is published.

Social security minister, Baroness Hollis of Heigham, defended the government, saying the prediction was that pensioners' incomes would rise overall over the next 20 years in line with earnings.

But there was a problem of mainly single women over 75 who had not built up a pension and were not claiming benefits. That was going to be tackled by a nationwide programme to ensure people knew of and claimed benefits, she added.