The Centre for Policy Studies has issued a damning assessment of the pensions industry, claiming the entire system needs an overhaul before it collapses beneath the weight of its terrible reputation. Its solutions include a kind of pension account, which will be opened for us at birth.

But would it make a blind bit of difference?

The paper said the pensions industry was "in the last chance saloon of public opinion" and that companies were: "widely, and justifiably, distrusted". The paper was written by pensions analyst Michael Johnson, who added: "The pensions and savings arena is a blizzard of complexity, jargon and meaningless terminology; perfect material for obfuscation and bamboozlement."

It called for a series of major changes to help repair the damage.

Newborn pensions

The account suggested is called a Super-ISA. This is a savings vehicle, which it says could be run through the Post Office. It could be used for all savings from when you are born to when you are drawing your pension. Money saved in there could be put towards general savings or retirement - and would automatically receive the right tax treatment.

The idea has its advantages. Most of struggle to get particularly excited about our pensions until roughly the time we expect to start drawing them. By having a vehicle that is part-pension throughout life, people are more likely to automatically consider investing.

Of course, the question is whether this will persuade people to take action. After-all they can get a stakeholder pension at birth even now, and only a tiny minority do so. Hargreaves Lansdown research reveals that by far the most popular reason for not saving into a pension is that 39% of people just haven't got round to it. This, they suggest, will not be cured by a new vehicle, it needs a sustained initiative to get people to save for their retirement.

Will it happen?

Other options proposed by the report included a comparison service to help people get the right annuity, a system whereby fund managers have to estimate how much they can boost your pension through investment each year and a new way of explaining how much is spent on managing your investments. There were also a number of measures suggested to reduce costs.

The question is whether any of this will actually happen. Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown is among many welcoming the spirit of the paper, but pointing out the flaws. He says: "The paper asserts lower prices and enhanced transparency would lead to more business with more customers. There is not much evidence to support this contention, indeed the Stakeholder experience of a few years ago appears to refute it."

He added: "The fact is when we lower our prices (which we do regularly) the majority of new business comes as transfers from our competitors. This is people who are already engaged with investing just choosing to use us as their provider rather than someone else."

And he concluded: "Much of the rest of the CPS paper addresses issues which are already being resolved, such as the Open Market Option, small pots, financial education and transparency of investment costs. Other issues are better left alone at this stage, such as pension tax relief, auto enrolment into ISAs and early access to pension savings."

The Investment Management Association was even less supportive of the paper. IMA's Chief Executive Richard Saunders said: "The investment management industry is already taking a number of initiatives to provide simplicity and improve consumer confidence."

"While the report rightly focuses on some important issues, it also contains a worrying number of inaccuracies. These sorts of errors don't help the debate and risk misleading investors, causing them unnecessary concern and potentially undermining the long-term savings culture that we need."

It seems, therefore, that there is an outside chance of these proposals becoming policy. But what do you think? Would baby pensions make a difference to you? Let us know in the comments.

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