Campaigners are urging Labour to abandon plans to raise the state pension age to 68, warning that millions of Britons could face hardship and be forced to work longer than expected. The state pension age is currently due to rise to 68 between 2044 and 2046, but a Government-commissioned review has raised concerns that the increase could be brought forward by as many as seven years.
Advocates for older people warn that many individuals will be in poor health and unable to work until they reach 68. There are also fears that ageing citizens could be forced to go without essentials or fall into debt.
OBR projections and Treasury policy
Concerns intensified after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) stated that its Government spending projections were based on the assumption that the state pension rises to 68 in 2037-39, and then to 69 in the 2070s. In its fiscal risks report in July, the OBR said the Treasury had confirmed this as the Government's current policy position. The watchdog warned that if the early rise did not take place, it would cost an average additional £6 billion every year.
The Government has said it cannot pre-empt the outcome of the state pension age review, which was launched last year. However, leading advocates for older Britons are urging ministers not to make people wait until 68 before accessing the state pension, which currently stands at £241.30 a week.
Campaigners and charities speak out
Morgan Vine of Independent Age said the charity's research found that one in five people aged 60-64 lived in poverty, and this was the case for just over a third of single-person households. She said: "Raising the state pension age risks leaving people who are already struggling financially facing an even longer wait for financial support… It should not be assumed that everyone can work for longer, particularly those living with poor health, disability or caring responsibilities."
Ms Vine warned that health inequalities mean people on lower incomes are less likely to be able to work for longer. She said: "When someone is forced to bridge an unemployment gap until they receive their state pension, it can mean running down savings, accumulating debt, or going without essentials… Independent Age believes the state pension age should remain at 67, rather than rise to 68 as currently planned."
Dennis Reed of campaign group Silver Voices said there is "no case" for increasing the pension age to 68 because "healthy life expectancy is falling and employers are still getting away with age discrimination at work". Pointing to the challenges faced by people born between 1965 and 1980, he said: "It is Generation X who will be most affected by this change and they are already facing more job insecurity, worse private pensions and attacks on the triple lock. It is disgraceful that policy on this huge public issue is being decided behind closed doors in the Treasury."
Political pressure and next steps
The Health Foundation warned in April that the number of years men and women spend in good health has fallen by approximately two to just under 61. The concern about a hike in the pension age comes as Andy Burnham has announced that the triple lock will end in its present form after the next election. The automatic annual link with earnings will go, although the state pension is still expected to keep track with longer-term earnings growth.
Alan Lees, chief executive of the National Association of Retired Police Officers and a spokesperson for Later Life Ambitions, which represents more than 250,000 pensioners, pushed for clarity from the Government. He said: "Pensioners of today and tomorrow must be provided with clarity. Those in later life, whether retired or still working, deserve better than uncertainty, worry, and haphazard policy decisions that can upend the financial planning that is crucial in a cost-of-living crisis. The Government has the power to put an end to this unhelpful speculation, and it should do so at the earliest opportunity, rather than leaving millions to worry about their financial futures."
Conservatives argue that Labour has "effectively banked the change in the state pension age into their spending forecasts" and say this would be very difficult to undo. The party says that if an early rise is to go ahead, anyone reaching 68 in 2037 is entitled to 10 years' notice, and letters would need to be sent out in April 2027.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said: "Labour refuse to come clean about state pension age changes which will affect around six million people. Labour has banked billions in savings from bringing forwards the rise in the state pension age and now have just months to tell the public before we have another WASPI-style scandal. Changes to the state pension should be flagged far in advance, so working people can make choices and adjust their savings and pension plans accordingly."
A Labour spokesperson said: "This is nonsense. Only one party has proposed bringing the state pension age increase to 68 forward by several years to 2037 – and that is the Conservative Party when they were in office. We have set out plans to adjust the triple lock from 2030 so that we can guarantee a sustainable state pension that rises every single year, without forcing people to wait until their 70s to receive it, which is what the Conservatives would do."
The Pensions Commission, launched last year to review the pensions system for the next Parliament, is due to publish a final report and recommendations in February 2027. Suzy Morrissey's independent review of the state pension age is considering the merits of linking state pension age to life expectancy, including on fairness between generations. In 2017, John Cridland, a former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, led an independent review which recommended the state pension age should increase to 68 over the two-year period 2037-39. Then-Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke said the Government accepted the recommendations, but the law has not been changed, so the rise to 68 is still on course to take place between 2044 and 2046.
