The Work and Pensions Committee has called on the government to boost universal credit for 66-year-olds to mitigate financial hardship caused by the rising state pension age. The state pension age is gradually increasing from 66 to 67, affecting those born on or after April 6, 1960. For those born between April 1960 and March 1961, the pension age will be 66 plus a specified number of months, while those born on or after March 6, 1961, will have a state pension age of 67.
Committee Recommends Temporary Universal Credit Increase
The committee urged ministers to consult on the change and implement it by the end of the year as a temporary measure, allowing time for longer-term support. Universal credit, a means-tested benefit for working-age people on low incomes or unable to work, currently provides around £425 a month at the standard rate. The committee warned that a growing number of 66-year-olds may have to rely on this rate for longer, despite worsening health.
The report stated: “For many, this will be a year of hardship, on inadequate working age benefits, potentially depleting savings they were relying on to support them in retirement.” It added: “On balance we support increasing the level of universal credit for all recipients in the year before state pension age because it has a greater impact in reducing poverty and hardship.”
Impact on Health and Regional Inequalities
The committee highlighted that ill-health and disability are more common in deprived areas, where employment opportunities are limited. “The impacts of the rise to 67 will be very uneven. For many unable to keep working, particularly on low incomes and in the most deprived areas, it will mean hardship as they wait longer for a state pension,” the report said. “Their shorter life expectancy means that they can then expect to receive it for a shorter time than those in the least deprived areas.” The committee noted that the previous increase from 65 to 66 resulted in absolute poverty rates among 65-year-olds more than doubling.
Committee chairwoman Debbie Abrahams said: “We can’t just allow people who are already struggling as they approach pension age to be forced to choose between continuing work in poor health or prolonging their poverty as they wait for their state pension to kick in. This is not the later life that anyone wants or to see their loved ones endure after providing for decades. We should recognise that pre-pensioners have greater needs and greater barriers into employment due to ill-health, age discrimination, lack of opportunity to upskill.”
Expert and Charity Reactions
Andrea Barry, deputy director for work at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “What is being proposed by the committee is a short-term measure to alleviate the current issue. In the longer term, and well before any future state pension rises, we need the Government to take a joined-up approach across pensions, work, benefits, and health, to ensure that the mid-60s is not a period of heightened financial precarity for growing numbers of older people.”
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “We’re delighted that the select committee has recognised that far too many people approaching their state pension age find themselves in a very difficult financial position. Allowing people who are realistically never going to work again to struggle to make ends meet until they hit state pension age is a senseless waste and an issue we’ve been highlighting for many years, so it’s fantastic that the committee is strongly advising the Government to address it and to do so quickly.”
Government Response
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “We welcome the Work and Pensions Select Committee inquiry on the transition to state pension age and will consider their report and recommendations in due course. As of February 2026, just 0.02% of the universal credit caseload was aged 65 or 66. A range of options for extra support are available for those that have not reached state pension age, such as universal credit and other means-tested and disability-related benefits, while the Pensions Commission is examining how we can ensure secure retirements for tomorrow’s pensioners.”
