The expert leading the government review into State Pension age increases has said '70 is not unusual in other countries' and that people need to 'rethink about how late in life we're prepared to work'.
Dr Suzy Morrissey, who was appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions last year to prepare an independent report into the future of the State Pension age, appeared on the BBC Radio 4 Moneybox show. She said 'anything is possible' when asked if people will have to wait until they are 70 in the future.
Pension age rises to 67
Listeners were told that this week one tranche of people were left waiting an extra month for their State Pension, as the age is currently incrementally rising to 67. Presenter Paul Lewis said: 'State pension age rose by one month this week. People who reached 66 on Tuesday will not get their state pension until May next year. That's a month later than those born the day before. It's part of the gradual rise in state pension age which will reach 67 for people born on March 6 1961 or later.'
'It's due to rise again to 68 in the 2040s. But will that change? The state pension age review - the third to be held - is considering how state pension age should be set in the future in the light of the latest life expectancy data.'
Concerns over fairness and health
Concern has been raised after figures showed that people are less healthy in older age before they get to 67, and may be unable to work but have no other income. When people get to 66, just 42% of adults still work.
Mr Lewis said listeners had highlighted how one pension age for everyone doesn't always feel fair, if they do physical jobs for example. Dr Morrissey said: 'Yes we certainly did hear that. People expressed concerns about different jobs and health status. And there's definitely a question there about how fair that would feel if you have worked in a physical job compared to those of us who do less physical work.'
On the issue of administering different pension ages to different jobs, she added: 'We shouldn't underestimate the scale of the task there - there is a reason that we use a single state pension age notwithstanding the challenges of doing so. Imagine trying to define the types of job that would be eligible for a reduction and how long would one have to have done that job.'
'Or regionally is it where you were born or how long you've lived in a particular place. It is extremely challenging to find criteria that people would consider fair.'
Life expectancy and employment
Mr Lewis said: 'Life expectancy does vary. It can be 7,8 years longer in some places than others. Again you'd have to define what the age would be and how long you had to live there.'
Dr Morrissey said: 'Whilst the idea of a differentiated, variable pension age might sound attractive at some level, I think once you start to get into those intricacies of how exactly you would do that definition I think probably people understand that there's a reason that we use a single one.'
One key area the review was looking at was life expectancy, and listeners were told that for a long time it was going up, but now that's stopped. Dr Morrissey said: 'So life expectancy is still increasing, but not at the rate that it was increasing in the past.'
'Healthy life expectancy is actually decreasing, so we're spending fewer years in good health and so, of course, as the state pension age increases that means that we're likely to be spending years of ill health, but still under state pension age.'
She said the employment rate for people between 50 and 64 is only about 70%. Dr Morrissey added: 'By the time you get to the year before state pension age only 42% of adults are still in paid work.'
Mr Lewis said: 'And that raises the question of how they live because if you can't work and you can't get your state pension, you're on working age benefits with maybe no money of your own.' Dr Morrissey agreed: 'The majority of people aged 50 - 64 who aren't in paid work give long-term sickness as the reason for not being in work.'
She said that people need to rethink how late they're prepared to work. Asked by Mr Lewis how it can be resolved, she said: 'I think it's fair to say that is a challenge. Some of it is a bit of a mindset as you said - a lot of your interviewees were not wanting to work that late, so there's something about us and rethinking about how late in life we're prepared to work. And then there's something about employment that we have - the types of roles that we're offered. When you speak to people about working into their later life, they often talk about flexibility as being really important.'
The report is set to be published after spring 2027.
