The retirement age could rise to 71 by 2050 for middle-aged workers in the UK, according to experts.
Research by the International Longevity Centre into the impact of growing life expectancy and falling birthrates on the state pension suggested the current UK retirement age would not be enough and that anyone born after April 1970 may have to work until they are 71 before claiming their pension.
It found most of the 121 countries it looked at had rapidly ageing populations - "making it increasingly important for these governments to act to support healthy ageing".
Les Mayhew, associate head of global research at the International Longevity Centre and author of the report State Pension Age and Demographic Change, said: “In the UK, state pension age would need to be 70 or 71 compared with 66 now, to maintain the status quo of the number of workers per state pensioner.
“But if you bring preventable ill health into the equation, that would have to increase even more,” he added. Mayhew is also a professor of statistics at Bayes Business School and has advised the government on rises to the state pension age as a senior civil servant.
The recent stalling in life expectancy during the austerity years and Covid has temporarily eased the pressure for increases in state pension age beyond 67, "but longer-term the pressure will be on to increase it to 68 or 69", the report said.
Jonathan Cribb, associate director and head of retirement at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that while he did not disagree with a higher pension age, increasing the pension age without addressing other cost-saving measures was not “realistic or equitable”.
He added: “It would disproportionately impact poorer individuals whose ill-health means they have shorter lives, and so who receive pensions for less time.”
The independent think tank's research also found that younger people do not have the financial assets that their parents and grandparents did. In 2010, those under 40 held £7.53 of every £100 of wealth. By 2020, that had fallen to £3.98. One-third of the UK’s 14 million Gen-Xers are at high risk of retiring on insufficient income.
The government said it would ensure that the state pension remained “a sustainable and fair foundation of income for future generations”.
A spokesperson said: “We have committed £70m in employment and skills support for the over-50s, which has seen an extra 54,000 over-50s added to company payrolls. Our £2.5bn Back to Work plan is supporting people to stay fit and find work, in addition to £14.1bn to improve health services to help people live longer, healthier lives.”
What is the British retirement age?
The state pension retirement age is the earliest you can claim your state pension and depends on when you were born. For people reaching state pension age now, it will be age 66 for both women and men.
For those born after 5 April 1960, there will be a phased increase in state pension age to 67, and eventually 68.
