The government is set to delay plans to raise the state pension age to 68 amid concerns of a backlash from voters, according to reports. Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride is expected to address MPs in the Commons on Thursday (March 30), when he is expected to update them on the latest statutory review on the pension age.
According to reports in The i and the Daily Express newspapers, Stride will confirm the Government will move to delay an increase to the pension age amid falling life expectancy rates. It follows reports and speculation in recent weeks that the plan to bring forward the rise could be pushed back until after the next general election, in part due to concerns about a backlash from middle-aged voters.
The state pension age is due to rise due to 68 from 2044, but reports earlier this year suggested ministers wanted to bring that forward – potentially as early as 2035. The state pension age is currently 66, but two increases have already been set out in legislation.
The government has confirmed a gradual rise to 67 for those born on or after April 1960 and a gradual rise to 68 between 2044 and 2046 for those born on or after April 1977. The government is required by law to review the state pension age every six years and a DWP spokesperson confirmed the latest review will be published by May 7.
Speaking to the Daily Express, Becky O’Connor, director of Public Affairs at PensionBee, said bringing forward the age rise from 67 to 68 would have “gone down like a lead balloon.”
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“It would have looked especially punishing for people on lower incomes, so hot on the heels after the Government removed the Lifetime Allowance limit for people with larger pension pots and increased the Annual Allowance in the Budget last week,” she said.
“Amid these changes, an earlier rise in the state pension age would have been viewed as penalising those who are dependent on the state pension for retirement by effectively forcing them to work longer, at the same time as potentially facilitating the earlier retirement of higher earners.”
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