Making sense of the report: what does it mean for you?

Will I have to work till I drop?

Do not confuse the state pension age, when you can begin claiming the state pension benefits, and your employer's retirement age, when you can stop work. If you are financially able to retire before being eligible for a state pension, you can.

Will the Government pay more generous pensions?

If Lord Turner's recommendations are adopted, the basic state pension will rise each year in line with average earnings, rather than prices, which increase more slowly. The basic state pension will also become available to everyone, irrespective of national insurance contributions they have paid. But, under the commission's proposals, basic state pension would still be worth only 17 per cent of the salary of an average earner. If you pay enough NI contributions to qualify for the second state pension, you may get an income worth a further 14 per cent of average pay.

What if I'm still on the breadline?

Pension credit, the top-up paid to the poorest pensioners will still be available. But Lord Turner believes fewer pensioners will need to claim this.

What pension scheme will my employer offer me?

When you join a new employer, you will be enrolled into the national pension savings scheme (NPSS), unless you opt out. You will have to pay 5 per cent of your salary into the scheme - though the Government will pay a fifth of this in tax relief - and your employer will have to contribute 3 per cent. The money will be invested at low cost to produce an income for your retirement.The commission says a 35-year-old joining the scheme on a salary of £23,000 could expect an NPSS pension of just £3,000 a year in today's money. People will have to make additional voluntary contributions for a higher pension. Members of existing final-salary and money-purchase pension funds may not be affected. But some experts believe many employers will use the NPSS as an excuse to cut costs, reducing the benefits to the legal minimum.

What if I'm self-employed?

Self-employed workers will be able to join the NPSS, as will those not in work. But these groups, which traditionally find it difficult to save for old age, have not been offered additional help.

Will I pay more tax?

The Pension Commission says public spending on pensions needs to increase from 6.2 per cent of GDP to between 7.5 to 8 per cent by 2050. The net cost of Lord Turner's state pension reforms would increase from an additional £200m of public spending in 2010 to £2.1bn in 2010. Without savings from the already-planned increase in the female pension age, from 60 to 65 by 2020, the cost of the reforms will rise to £7.6bn by 2010, or 2p extra on basic income tax.

When will all this happen?

Lord Turner says the NPSS could be up and running by 2010 and also thinks many of his proposals could be implemented by then. But the state pension age would not rise before 2020 at the earliest.

Alison Mortlock: 'At the moment I think our old age will be a struggle'

Alison Mortlock is currently on maternity leave after giving birth to twins, Florence and Lola, in August.

She and her husband Paul live in Woking, Surrey, and also have a two-year-old daughter, Daisy. She earns £30 to £40,000 and since 2001 has contributed 5 per cent of her salary - an amount matched by her company - to a private pension.

"To be honest, I am more worried about nappies and finding money for babies now than what to do when I'm 70," she said. "If you are working and your company has an incentive for you to put money away then you'd be loopy not to. But pensions are so complicated that it is not surprising we are ignorant of the problem.

"I'm pleased they are trying to make the state pension system fairer for women who take time off to have children, but most people will need a private pension as well to get by and the private system is still biased.

"If I take my full year of entitled maternity leave, my maternity pay would run out for the second six months and so I can't contribute to my pension. In contrast, my husband can carry on paying into his.

"It is appalling that people will be expected to work for longer. There will still be age discrimination: if you lose your job when you are 60, who will employ you for another eight years?

"At the moment I think our old age will be a struggle. My husband has started his own business, an image library, so there's a glimmer of hope he will make a lot of money. But if not, I can't see us living comfortably off our existing pensions. We would probably have to sell our house and move.

"I hope that by the time my kids grow old the government has solved the problem."

Bidisha Bandyopadhyay: 'We don't earn enough to put money aside'

Bidisha Bandyopadhyay, 26, is a self-employed writer from north London. She used to contribute £100 a month to a private pension but could not sustain this due to her sporadic earnings, so now contributes nothing.

"The one thing I do like about the whole pensions scare is that it will force young people to think about the future," she said. "Looking around at other people my age, we're just not earning enough to put extra money aside. It is easy to say, 'I'll think about all that in my 40s,' but by that time - especially if you have kids or are looking after elderly parents - it will be too late.

"I have always thought about having a pension because as a writer you don't know whether you are going to make lots of money or none.

"But it is very difficult to set up a scheme if you can't guarantee regular payments; after a while I couldn't keep up. The Government ought to consider the self-employed.

"With my own parents coming up to retirement age, it is frightening to see how little money they will have. They have always been prudent with money but my mum [aged 59] has calculated her income will drop by two-thirds.

"I'm hoping to receive a windfall sometime. When I sell my next book I am determined to put away 20 or 30 per cent of the money and not touch it - tell yourself it is for paying heating bills or buying food when you are 70, not for some future luxury."

Oliver Duff