New employees could automatically become members of company pension schemes under proposals the Government said today it was considering in a bid to tackle the pensions crisis.

The Department for Work and Pensions said it was exploring a range of options to get people to save more for their retirement including automatically enrolling new staff to their company scheme unless they chose to opt out.

Other measures being looked at are forcing new members of staff to actively decide whether or not to join a company scheme, and getting people to commit potential future earnings to pension saving.

The Government also unveiled a new active retirement planner which aims to give people a clear idea of what retirement income they can expect both in terms of private and state provision.

The tool, which the Government believes to be the first of its kind in the world, will enable people to see projections of their retirement income, as well as the options available to them to increase it, such as the impact of increasing their contributions, or retiring a few years later.

Work and Pensions Secretary Andrew Smith said: ''The state of your pension should be as important as the state of your health, we want to provide people with the tools to make informed decisions about their future.

''The decisions people make about retirement are among the most important they face, we all get a lot of information on pensions, but too often we don't understand how it relates to our own retirement prospects.

''Government must help provide people with trustworthy, individually tailored information simply explaining their situation and the options available to them.'' It is estimated that Britons are currently saving £27 billion a year less than they need to in order to enjoy a comfortable retirement.