Consumers are unable to make informed choices about saving for retirement because the UK has one of the most complex state pension systems in the world, the head of a pensions group said today.

Christine Farnish, chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), said pensions were "unfathomable" for consumers.

Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee she said: "Part of the problem is the language used, but part of the problem is the very complicated state pension scheme, which is probably the most complex in the world.

"We don't just have one state pension system, we have two."

She said the costs and charges on pensions were "very opaque and difficult to understand".

To be an expert on pensions a person needed to lock themselves away and study documents for around a month and a half.

Pensions had "gone out of fashion", said Ms Farnish. She blamed this on a combination of scare stories in the media, and young people being unwilling to commit their "scarce resources" to a long-term savings product over which they had no control and about which there was a lot of "mystique".

She said the industry should make better use of its £1.4 billion marketing budget to help educate consumers, adding that what was really needed was some generic information and advice.

She said she supported the introduction of a range of low-cost simplified products, in line with the recommendations made by Ron Sandler in his review of the savings industry.

Earlier in the session Simon Ellis, chair of the investment funds committee at the Investment Management Association, said there was a shortfall in the number of financial advisers who served "mass middle England".

Richard Saunders, chief executive of IMA, added that many people thought they could get independent advice from their high street bank, but under the current system banks could not offer this.

When asked if he thought there was a mis-match between consumers' expectations of products and what they delivered, Mr Saunders said the problem was that people did not understand that they could not get a stock market return without taking a risk.