Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith outlined a scheme that would see the defaultment retirement age of 65 scrapped.
But Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, said: 'The latest assault from the Government is work until you drop.

'If you are a rich banker with a private pension you can sail off on your yacht at 55, but for working men and women retirement will be pushed further and further over the horizon in a step back to the days of Dickens.'
Mr Duncan Smith announced today that the Government will make it illegal for companies to force staff to retire at 65.
The move is part of a radical reform of pensions which will also require companies automatically to enrol their employees in a pension scheme.
Ministers are also pressing ahead with a review of the state pension age, which is likely to rise above 70 later this century.
Unions reacted with anger to the news, accusing the Government of showing its 'class bias' just weeks after gaining power.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mr Duncan Smith said the time had come to end laws allowing firms to force employees to retire at 65.
‘People are living longer and healthier lives than ever, and the last thing we want is to lose their skills and experience from the workplace due to an arbitrary age limit.
‘Now is absolutely the right time to live up to our responsibility to reform our outdated pension system and to take action where the previous government failed to do so.
‘If Britain is to have a stable, affordable pension system, people need to work longer, but we will reward their hard work with a decent state pension that will enable them to enjoy quality of life in their retirement,’ he told The Daily Telegraph.

His plans are designed to ‘reinvigorate retirement’, he added.
However, they are likely to dismay many employers who say they need to be able to force retirement, so they can prevent older workers blocking jobs at the expense of the young.

The UK’s retirement age has faced a series of legal challenges under EU discrimination laws in recent years.
Campaigners claim an estimated 25,000 of us are forced to retire at 65 every year, despite being able and willing to continue.

Under Labour, retirement was due to equalise for men and women at 65 by 2020, rise to 66 between 2024 and 2026, 67 between 2034 and 2036, and 68 between 2044 and 2046.
The Government review will look at whether the pension age for men should rise to 66 by 2016, with further and faster rises following on.

Life expectancy in the UK is currently 77.4 for men and 81.6 for women, up from 71 for men and for women 77 in 1985.
Mr Duncan Smith said that he wanted to ‘take a frank look at the relationship between state pension age and life expectancy’, pointing out that pension age benefits make up two thirds of his department's annual expenditure - about £100 billion a year.
This will involve pressing ahead with existing plans in which staff are automatically entered into a pension scheme, to prevent the situation in which ten million make no provision for their old age.
Although staff will be able to opt out, officials estimate that between half and 90 per cent of workers will remain in the pension scheme to which they are signed up.
Firms must either pay a minimum of 3 per cent of salary towards a defined contribution scheme or to a government pension plan called Nest, the National Employment Savings Trust.
Mr Duncan Smith said that when the first contributory state pension was introduced in 1926, only 34 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women were expected to reach 65, while in 1940 when the retirement age was set at 65 for men and 60 for women, life expectancy was 72.

Today it is a 'staggering' 89 for men and 90 for women, so that someone retiring now could expect it to last almost 30 years.
'That means we can expect to spend almost a third of our lives in retirement. I'm sure that was never contemplated when the pension regime was first proposed.

'Britain used to have a pensions system to be proud of, but due to years of neglect and inaction we are left with fewer people saving into a pension every year and the value of the state pension has been eroded, leaving millions in poverty.

'We must live up to our responsibility to reinvigorate the pension landscape.

'People are living longer and healthier lives than ever, and the last thing we want is to lose their talent and enthusiasm from the workplace due to an arbitrary age limit.

'We also need to recognise that to meet the challenge of providing an affordable, stable pensions system in a society with ever increasing life expectancy, people will need to work longer.

'We will reward their longer working life by making sure that when they do retire, their pension is worth getting.

'We are taking radical action to restore the earnings link with the triple guarantee, ensuring our pensioners get the best possible deal.

'Everyone needs to take responsibility for achieving the income in retirement they aspire to.

'We will support them in doing so by giving people the chance to save into a workplace pension and the freedom to work beyond retirement age if they want to.'
Union leaders have warned the Government about industrial action over any changes to public sector pensions.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, said: 'The Government knows that manual workers in the industrial regions of the UK do not enjoy anything like the same life expectancy as professionals or other classes or employees.
'To force someone who has done a lifetime of toil on building sites, farms or in factories to work until they are 66 is completely unacceptable. What on earth are the Liberals doing in this coalition?'

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, said: 'As well as hitting pay, living standards, public services and jobs, the latest assault from the Government is work until you drop.
'If you are a rich banker with a private pension you can sail off on your yacht at 55, but for working men and women retirement will be pushed further and further over the horizon in a step back to the days of Dickens.
'That is not sharing the pain, it is hitting the poorest hardest yet again.'

Mr Duncan Smith's announcement comes as former Labour Cabinet minister John Hutton embarks on a review of public sector pensions.

As the head of the Independent Pensions Commission, he has been tasked with identifying immediate savings by September and full-scale reforms in time for next year's Budget.

The new Office of Budget Responsibility has suggested the public sector pension bill could more than double to £9 billion a year by 2015.

Mr Hutton, the former work and pensions secretary, is reportedly looking at increasing the contributions of workers - which are in some cases significantly lower than in the private sector.

A 2.5 per cent across the board rise is said to be enough to save £3.2billion a year.

Yesterday the Prime Minister attempted to assuage anger over planned pension cuts by confirming he will not be accepting the lucrative pension available to Prime Ministers.

Premiers - along with Lord Chancellors and Commons Speakers - have traditionally been entitled to an annual sum of half their salary, regardless of how long they served.

However, Gordon Brown refused the generous perk, currently worth some £66,000 per year.

Mr Cameron is still in line for a final salary ministerial pension, alongside his provision as an MP.