E F Showell (You Say, May 1) claims there isn't enough money in the kitty to restore the earnings link to the state pension. He is wrong.

The Government has admitted that the NI Fund now has a surplus of about £18bn. Cash is paid into the fund as a proportion of wages and pensions paid out are tied to the Retail Price Index. As wages are still rising faster than twice the surplus, this will go on accumulating.

The National Pensioners' Convention calculates that it would cost about £2bn to restore the pension to its 1980 value. Today, this would amount to about £100 per week - rather modest when set against average full-time wage levels - which range from about £420 to about £550 per week overall.

The actuary also states that upgrading the pension in line with average earnings/RPI could be achieved by increasing the combined employers/employee rate by only 3.2 per cent by 2020-21.

The state pension costs less than half of one per cent of income to administer. Can Mr Showell's private pensions beat this?

The increased longevity of pensioners is a fact, although scare stories in the Press about a drastic future rise in the ratio of jobless to those employed are not born out by current statistical projectional.

Suggested way of helping with any problem include the removal of the ceiling on NHI contributions, encouraging pensioners to continue working after official retirement if they so wish.

A J C EVANS, Callow End, Worcestershire.