Pension crisis: The game

"Fat cat" boss after your pension

A computer game highlighting the UK pension crisis has been launched by one of the country's biggest unions.

The game launched on Monday at the Amicus union annual conference features workers adding to their pension fund only to be pursued around a maze by a "fat cat" boss character trying to steal their savings.

Amicus will e-mail the game to 50,000 people who are not in a trade union in a bid to highlight the threat to company pension schemes.

In recent times firms, faced with poor stock market returns, increasing life expectancy and poor tax incentives, have drastically reduced their pension liabilities.

Compulsory pension

Many lucrative final salary schemes have been closed to new employees or simply wound up, with non retired scheme members often ending-up with little to show for years of saving.

Back in March Amicus leader Derek Simpson called on the government to introduce compulsory retirement provision to try to ease the looming UK pension crisis.

Under the Amicus plans employees would pay 5% of their pay into a pension while employers would pay in 10% of the worker's wage.

The union argued that the cost of doing this should be weighed against the substantial reduction in the number of pensioners who would rely on state benefits.