Gordon Brown has faced a wave of criticism over his scrapping of tax-relief for pension funds, which critics say is the reason for the current pensions crisis. It's been potentially damaging to his standing with voters and chances of winning any leadership fight for the Labour party.
What's Brown accused of?
The political storm's origins are in Labour's first Budget in 1997.
At the time, Brown announced pension funds would no longer be able to claim tax relief on dividends paid by the shares they owned. This is estimated to have cost the funds around £5billion a year since.
The furore in Tory and other circles has come 10 years later with the release of papers showing Brown was advised of the damage this could do.
But is Gordon alone to blame for the poor state of today's pensions?
Effects of the pensions crisis
The pensions crisis has hit hard. Some company schemes have closed, leaving workers who contributed to them for decades with nothing. Other schemes simply don't have enough to pay out the income pensioners were expecting on retirement.
The crisis is also hitting the confidence of the current working generation, with many now believing pensions aren't worth investing in.
Is this really the only factor behind the crisis?
Most experts seem to agree that this isn't the only contributing factor to the current crisis, which they say dates back to previous Governments of the 1970s and 1980s.
Companies take 'contribution holidays'
Up to 30 years ago, many pension schemes were bulging with cash and the Tories decided to allow companies to take contribution holidays.
Bosses took full advantage to save money, but when times got hard didn't start paying back into company pension funds, and payments therefore slipped behind.
Ageing population
Another factor is simply that we are all living longer, and pension schemes now have to pay out far more than projections made just 20 years ago suggested they would. Contribution levels were not increased to take this into account.
Stockmarket collapse
The stockmarket collapse after the dotcom boom of the late 1990s is another factor.
Pension schemes invest in shares in the expectation of long-term gains. However, after peaking in 2000, the stockmarket fell by around 40% over the next three years. In fact, the stockmarket's still below its record highs.
If you retired during this period, or are due to shortly, this has seriously eroded the value of your pension pot.
Who do you think is to blame?
So, who is to blame? Did Gordon's scrapping of tax relief for pension funds trigger the current crisis?
Or, was this just one in a long line of factors which have slowly eroded the value of our pensions? Share your thoughts and see what others think.
