The UK's state pension age (SPA) will increase to 68 by 2039, seven years earlier than originally planned, under a new timetable put forward by the government.
The proposed new timetable matches that proposed by Sir John Cridland in his independent report to the government, and is intended to match projected increases in life expectancy, according to work and pensions secretary David Gauke.
Gauke said that failing to bring forward the increase would be "irresponsible". The number of people over SPA in the UK is expected to grow by a third between 2017 and 2042, from 12.4 million in 2017 to 16.9 million in 2042, according to the latest estimated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
"As life expectancy continues to rise and the number of people in receipt of State Pension increases, we need to ensure that we have a fair and sustainable system that is reflective of modern life and protected for future generations," Gauke said.
"Combined with our pension reforms that are helping more people than ever save into a private pension and reducing pensioner poverty to a near record low, these changes will give people the certainty they need to plan ahead for retirement," he said.
Pensions expert Stephen Scholefield of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the increase had been expected given that people are living longer with fewer people of working age to support them. However, there was a risk that continued increases to the SPA could "open new divides", he said.
"Longevity differs radically across social and regional groups," he said. "Continuing to increase SPA does little to benefit those who need their pension most. However, the alternatives are complex, such as allowing a reducing pension to be paid from an earlier age; and often unattractive, such as means testing. Nevertheless, continuing to increase the age may be untenable over the long term."
"Whatever approach one favours, private pension saving may increasingly become a bridge between work and the state pension. How people save more, and how we create the jobs for people to work longer, is one of the biggest challenges of our age," he said.
The planned increase is the first to be announced since the entry into force of the 2014 Pensions Act, which requires the government to review the SPA every five years to ensure that the system remains financially sustainable. The SPA for women in the UK has been steadily increasing and will reach 65, to match that of men, next year. It will then increase to 66 for both sexes from October 2020 and to 67 by 2028.
The new timetable proposes increasing the SPA to 68 between 2037 and 2039. Under the current legislation, this increase would be phased in between 2044 and 2046. The change means that everyone born between 6 April 1970 and 5 April 1978 would receive the state pension later than they were set to do under the current timetable.
No changes to the SPA will be made for anyone born on or before 5 April 1970, according to the government.
Earlier this week Sir Michael Marmot, an academic at University College London and former adviser to the government, claimed that growth in life expectancy in England was "pretty close to having ground to a halt". His figures, which are based on ONS projections for babies born in England since 2000, show that increases to life expectancy have nearly halved since 2010.
"It is ironic that the government's announcement follows hot on the heels of the Marmot indicator findings that increases in life expectancy have slowed recently," said pensions expert Carolyn Saunders of Pinsent Masons. "However, improvements in longevity to date are such that the new timetable will still only go part of the way towards redressing the resulting generational unfairness."
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