Will pension age rise push more people into poverty?

ANYBODY who retired when the state pension age was still 65 for men and 60 for women should breathe a sigh of relief, as the retirement age is set to climb at a faster pace than any of us imagined.

- Harvey Jones

Today, we all have to work on to age 66, and that will increase to 67 from 2026 and from there to 68, possibly as early as 2033.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak knows that raising the state pension age will make the Government even less popular than it already is, but it could happen anyway. The big argument in favour is that it will become unaffordable as life expectancy rises, but that is less convincing as people are now dying at younger ages.

In 2014, the official forecast suggested that by 2028 the average 67-year-old man could expect to live to just over 88.1 years by 2028, rising to around 90.1 for women. Today, those figures have fallen to 85.7 and 87.8 years respectively, almost two-and-a-half years lower.

Dennis Reed, director of campaign group Silver Voices, said falling life expectancy means there is “no justification” for any rises in the state pension in the next decade.

Yet it is still seems likely to happen.

WORKING ON

Working into later life is not a problem in itself, provided you are healthy. It is better to stay active and engaged, and the economy needs skilled, talented and experienced workers, especially at the moment.

But many simply cannot do that. A staggering 3.5 million people aged 50 to 64 are currently “economically inactive” Age UK says, of whom one in three have savings of less than £5,000, while 120,000 having no savings at all.