Welch said that at first sight the introduction of an auto-increase in state retirement age with expected longevity, the move to a single-tier pension and the removal of age-related tax allowances were changes that would not benefit the majority of pensioners.
He said: “More and more people will need to consider using their housing equity to maintain a comfortable standard of living retirement.
“Increasingly in the future we may see that those who can’t, or choose not to, work right up to state pension age may need to release equity to tide them over until they reach that point.”
Tony Bernstein, senior tax partner at HW Fisher & Company, said: “Although the age-related allowances aren't being taken away from those who already have them, tomorrow's pensioners won't get the additional tax relief that today's pensioners enjoy.
“Expect more cutbacks like this in the future as the economy feels the adverse effects of an ageing population.”
Dr Ros Altmann, director-general of Saga, said: “This is an outrageous assault on decent middle-class pensioners.
“This Budget contains an enormous stealth tax for older people. Over the next five years, pensioners with an income of between £10,000 and £24,000 will be paying an extra £3bn in tax while richer pensioners are left unaffected.
“There is nothing in this Budget for savers, there is nothing to improve the annuity market, nothing to appease the damage of quantitative easing and nothing to support ISA changes and shelter older people's money in cash. This Budget is terrible news for pensioners."
"It is good to hear that we will be able to harness the power of pension funds to improve UK Infrastructure but, in short, this Budget is another shocking example of the government's attack on poorer and older people. It is dramatically unfair.”
Chris Aitken, head of financial planning at Investec Wealth & Investment, said: “For us the most important part of the budget was what it didn’t contain, namely the reduction of tax relief on pension contributions for higher rate taxpayers.
“We have an ageing population and to abolish this incentive to save for the future would be idiotic. The government seems to have come to its senses on this, but we note that as ever the wording of the Chancellor’s statement gives him the wriggle room to come back to it.
“Our message to George Osborne is simple – if you have the thought again go and sit in a dark room until it goes away.”
Jim Boyd, director of corporate affairs at Partnership, said: “The implications of an increasing state pension age may be stark for those people who have had to retire through ill health or simply because there is no employment available to them in old age – before they have reached the state pension age.
“This will be exacerbated by an automatic review for an increased pension age in line with longevity. There will be few sources of additional income in retirement to turn to for those who have to leave work before this date.
“This implies that equity release may play an important role in providing additional retirement income if those people are lucky enough to be home owners.”
