Alan Pickering's government-sponsored report on the UK pensions industry has recommended the creation of a beefed up regulatory body for the industry, plus legislation to encourage the creation of more multi-employer schemes.

Pickering, the former chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds, said: "We propose a new kind of regulator. This organisation would be more pro active than the existing Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) and it would act as an adviser as well as a regulator. We think that the regulatory regime should place greater reliance on professionals exercising and backing their judgement."