The new pensions bill published today has increased the state pension age to 66 from between 2018 and 2020. The raise has been caused by longer life expectancy, which has driven up the cost of funding the pay-as-you-go state pension scheme. With life expectancy increasing by 40 per cent in the last 25 years, the change in pension age is seen by many experts to be an economic necessity.
The coalition government are also due to change the timescale for increasing the state pension age for women so that is the same as for men, with womens pensionable age to start going up from 2016 to reach 65 by 2018. It is reckoned that by the year 2031 nearly a quarter of the UK population will be more than over 65, a 5 per cent rise on current numbers.
But Rachel Reeves, shadow minister for work and pensions, commented on the decision “I understand the implications of increasing longevity, and agree that deficit reduction is a priority, but the legislation published today is arbitrarily hitting women born in 1954 too harshly, while making no impact on deficit reduction in this parliament.”
In addition, Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK, stated “By pushing ahead with these plans the government is breaking the promise it made in the coalition agreement not to start increasing state pension age to 66 for women before 2020.”
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