The National Association of Pension Funds has defended occupational pensions, stating that they are "a lot more secure than they have been".

Commenting upon the faltering of confidence in the funds following the pensions crisis, the association stated that work still needed to be done to boost savers' trust and increase consumer awareness of safeguards now in place.

These include the Pensions Protection Fund (PPF), which can take in the assets of defunct schemes almost immediately and the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), which aids those who lost savings in the pensions crisis, which can only pay out when defunct schemes are fully wound up.

Michellle Lewis, senior policy adviser at the NAPF, contended: "We have got the PPF and things are probably a lot more secure than they have been. It is a shame that this message is not being portrayed."

She advised that the government was reviewing the remit of the FAS, a fund set up to provide a lifeboat for all those whose pension was lost in the pensions crisis between 1997 and 2005.

"Obviously our members provide trusted schemes and we want that message out there – that pensions are a good thing," Ms Lewis added.

Meanwhile, the Pensions Advisory Service has called for the FAS to be given wind-up powers similar to those exercised by the PPF.