More people need to save more for their future , Mr Hutton says

John Hutton confirmed he wanted to restore the link between pensions and earnings, as well as raise the pension age from 65.

But he said the "number one problem" to resolve was how to encourage people to save more for retirement.

The long-awaited pensions White Paper will be released later this week.

"The real problem in the UK pensions system right now is that people aren't saving enough for their own retirement," Mr Hutton told BBC One's Sunday AM.

"What we have really got to try to engineer is a situation where the state pension system can provide a new, proper, solid foundation on which it will always make it clear to people that it will be worth their while to save for their retirement."

Current estimates suggest almost 10 million people are not saving enough to provide for their retirement.

'No tax rises'

Proposals to be revealed in the White Paper would be of the "scale and magnitude" seen when the welfare state was reformed in the 1940s, Mr Hutton added.

Pension plans should be tailored to be inclusive of people in all walks of life, not exclusive to some John McFall Chairman, Treasury select committee

However, the pensions secretary did stress that any changes would be affordable and gradual, and would not trigger a rise in taxes.

Most of the planned changes would be based on the recommendations of Lord Turner's Pensions Commission, Mr Hutton confirmed.

The comments came hours after the Treasury select committee gave its backing to Lord Turner's plan for a National Pension Savings Scheme (NPSS).

However, the group warned that any scheme should be simple and cheap to run.

'Not exclusive'

The committee also warned a number of issues must be tackled - including ensuring that the NPSS was free of jargon.

Chairman John McFall said: "Pension plans should be tailored to be inclusive of people in all walks of life, not exclusive to some.

"They should be accessible, simple and straightforward," he added.

Pension plans should also be "more ready-to-wear and less made-to-measure," offering suitable generic guidance for everyone who might be interested, Mr McFall said.

Lord Turner's proposals that people should be enrolled automatically if their employers do not already provide an occupational pension scheme also won support, as did calls for compulsory employer contributions.

Without these features, the committee argues, the NPSS would be no more effective than the government's previous initiative, the stakeholder pension.

The consumers' association Which? has also come out in favour of the NPSS.

Spokesman Mick McAteer said: "People on lower-to-average incomes will really benefit from NPSS.