SHOULD THE STATE PENSION AGE RISE?

After Pensions Minister Torsten Bell admitted a planned rise to the UK retirement age could be halted due to changing lifeexpectancy, three finance experts have their say on what the Government should do next

- Harvey Jones

A STEADY increase in the state pension age over time is something most of us have come to accept as a certainty. It's understandable when you consider how ministers of all political per- suasions have been drumming home this mes- sage, based on the fact we're all living longer.

But there's a serious problem - we're not living longer.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed that between 2021 and 2023, life expectancy at birth for men in England actually fell by 26 weeks, from 79.5 years to 79 years. For women, it dropped by 13 weeks, from 83.2 years to 83 years.