A new centre-right government has closed down Denmark's pension commission which was set up in 2014 to come up with reforms for the whole sector.

The commission's original job was to come up with ways of cutting through the interminable red-tape that surrounds the Danish pensions regime and also to give the government advice about the right level of taxation, which is higher for Danish pensions that for pensions elsewhere. It was scheduled to produce a report in the autumn of next year.

Carsten Andersen, the deputy head of Forsikring & Pension, the trade body, was quoted as saying: “For many, it cannot really pay off to save for a pension in the last few years before retirement because their own savings are offset against public benefits.”