The government's flagship policy on saving for old age is unlikely to succeed, one of the pension's industry most respected figures said yesterday as he announced his own retirement.

The government's flagship policy on saving for old age is unlikely to succeed, one of the pension's industry most respected figures said yesterday as he announced his own retirement.

Stewart Ritchie, pensions development director of Aegon Scottish Equitable and the outgoing president of the Faculty of Actuaries, is stepping down from the Edinburgh insurer which he joined as a trainee in 1972.

He said the current challenges in pensions were "as serious as any I can remember in the last 35 years", and that the government's key reform of auto-enrolment into personal pension accounts at work, with an 8% combined contribution, was flawed.

For those already in a scheme with at least an 8% contribution, the new accounts would do nothing, Ritchie said. "The people who personal accounts ought to do something for are the people who are accruing no pension at the moment. The big unresolved problem for them is that, almost by definition, a lot of them are less-than-average earners so they are precisely the people who are most likely to be on means-tested benefits in old age - we haven't resolved the conflict between means-testing and auto-enrolment."

Ritchie said the big change in his career had been the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution schemes. "That in itself was not a bad thing, but the trouble is it has been accompanied by a reduction in employer commitment, the willingness of the employer to take risk, and what he is willing to pay - personal accounts at the moment don't resolve the problems."

Ritchie, whose boss at Aegon, Otto Thoresen, was asked by the government to draw up plans for a national financial "guidance" scheme, said the biggest hope of rescue was financial education.

"As long as people understand what a good pension costs, then they are at least beginning on the journey to make sure they take responsibility for their own retirement."

Ritchie said he had an "open mind" about his own retirement, though he would "remain a very interested observer and hope to make some positive contributions to help".

Thoresen commented: "Few people have worked as hard to improve the pensions landscape in the UK over the last 30 years as Stewart Ritchie.

"His work has been fundamental in developing Aegon's position as a leading pension provider, but the whole of the long-term savings industry has benefited from his insight and experience, and tireless enthusiasm for his subject."

Ritchie helped shape pensions policy through extensive lobbying and working with the Association of British Insurers, the National Association of Pension Funds and the Society of Pension Consultants. In 1997, he was appointed by the government to the Pension Provision Group and in 2001 was a founding council member of the Pensions Policy Institute.

He ran into unexpected controversy earlier this year when his championing of a full actuarial profession merger between the Scottish faculty and the English institute met principled opposition from a group of highly-accredited "rebel" actuaries in Edinburgh. A further vote on the proposals will be taken next month.

Ritchie commented: " There is no point in becoming president and then chickening out from saying what you believe is necessary. Under the merger proposals there would be a Scottish council which would be responsible for ensuring the continuation of a vibrant professional community in Scotland."