Delaying rise in pension age will cost £60bn, warns IFS
The Independent|March 25, 2023
Failing to increase the state pension age to 68 as the government had planned could cost the taxpayer more than 60bn, the Institute for Fiscal Studies IFS) has warned.
ANDY GREGORY
Delaying rise in pension age will cost £60bn, warns IFS

The decision to bring forward the rise by seven years - so that it comes into effect between 2037 and 2039, rather than 2044 and 2046 - was first announced by Theresa May's government in 2017. The plan would mean millions of people being left waiting an extra year for their pension.

Ministers had until recently been expected to confirm the decision in their review of the pension age, which is due to be published by May this year. The government is legally required to publish such a review every six years. But new reports suggest that Rishi Sunak's government has now decided to delay the announcement until after the next general election, which is due to be held in January 2025 at the latest.

The delay is reported by the Financial Times to be due in part to a fall in life expectancy rates in the UK since the government's last pensions review. The interim period was marked by the emergence of Covid-19, which has been implicated in more than 220,000 deaths in the UK.

This story is from the March 25, 2023 edition of The Independent.

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This story is from the March 25, 2023 edition of The Independent.

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