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Millions of young workers face being short-changed by up to £76,000 in pension savings due to Government inaction on long-promised reforms to workplace pensions.

Experts warn that ministers are dragging their feet on changes to the automatic enrolment rules - first backed in 2017 - that would allow workers to start saving into pension pots from the age of 18 and from their very first pound earned.

Insurance giant Aon raised the alarm at the Pensions Age conference, saying the continued delay is a costly mistake. Had the changes been brought in four years ago, a typical 22 year old could now be on track for an additional £76,000 in their retirement pot, it claims.

Steve Leigh, associate partner at Aon, said: "Automatic enrolment is incredibly effective at getting people to save more for their retirement. The earlier someone starts saving the better, as the money saved in the early years will be worth far more than an equivalent amount saved later in life due to the power of compounding of returns."

Under current rules, employees are only automatically enrolled if they're aged 22 or over and earn more than £10,000 a year. Even then, contributions only count on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270.

The minimum 8% contribution- 5% from the employee and 3% from the employer-is seen by many as inadequate, particularly as living costs soar and the value of the state pension is increasingly questioned.

The reforms - backed by all major parties - would lower the enrolment age to 18 and scrap the lower earnings threshold, meaning every pound earned would count. But despite warm words, no timeline has ever been published and no legislation has been passed.

Aon's modelling shows that applying these simple tweaks would massively boost long-term outcomes, especially for those on lower incomes and in insecure jobs.

Mr Leigh said: "We are long overdue a review of the auto-enrolment thresholds and target retirement income. Saving more for retirement is a good idea for many people, but there needs to be a balanced position taken.

"The current design of the UK state pension means this will be more valuable to someone on lower earnings relative to their overall income, so they are unlikely to need to save as much on top, compared to someone with above average earnings who will be more likely to have a bigger gap between their regular outgoings and pension savings."

He also highlighted a major flaw in the current system: it leaves out entire swathes of workers including the self-employed and those juggling multiple part-time roles.

"There may not be a simple solution but building on the foundations of automatic enrolment to help people attain a dignified standard of living in retirement is something that should be addressed as soon as possible."

The warning comes amid fresh figures from investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown showing that just 36 per cent of savers are on track for a moderate retirement income. The rest could face serious shortfalls later in life.

Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at HL, told : "It's alarming to see that so many people aren't saving enough for retirement.

"While some individuals are putting away what they need, the majority aren't making sufficient contributions, and many will find themselves struggling in their later years."

Despite near-universal agreement across the pensions industry, ministers have failed to commit to a deadline for reform. A draft bill has been tabled before but never progressed through Parliament.

A Government spokesperson said: "Automatic enrolment has turned millions of people into pension savers with around nine in 10 eligible employees saving for their retirement.

"We are committed to building on this, which is why the Government announced the landmark two-stage pensions review days after coming into office.

"The upcoming pension schemes bill will also include measures to boost the pension pots of more than 15 million pension savers as part of our plan for change."