Flagship attempts by the government to encourage low-income families to save for retirement have been branded a failure by the Trades Union Congress.

Average contributions to stakeholder pensions have been skewed by a number of wealthy people taking advantage of tax breaks to buy policies for family members, the TUC said.

Stakeholder Response: Help the Aged

Mervyn Kohler, Help the Aged head of public affairs, said: "The TUC research shows that this flagship policy, launched with such a fanfare in 2001, is failing to appeal to the target group it was supposed to help. Not many employees on low or average incomes are saving for a stakeholder pension, and not many of them are making significant savings.