The state pension age is already due to rise to 67 by 2028 and 68 by 2046.
However, the Treasury wants the rise to 68 to come in as early as 2037 or potentially even earlier.
The government’s plan of linking the state pension age to average life expectancy doesn’t make any sense, as the latest research shows that rises in life expectancy have now come to a halt and health inequalities are rising.
Life expectancy for men in Blackpool is 74.1 years and for women is 79 (2018-2020), both lower than the national averages.
For a man in Blackpool a healthy life expectancy is just 53 years, meaning they will wait in bad health, unable to work for more than a decade, before qualifying for their state pension.
Not everyone will be able to keep working up to the state pension age, either through ill health or unemployment.
Groups like family carers and disabled workers are particularly vulnerable and many will find they are too old for work, but too young to retire.
3.5 million people aged between 50 and 64 are out of the workforce already. Many of them are in poor health and with few savings by the time they reach state pension age.
Millions of future workers will rely solely on the state pension to fund their retirement, so raising the state pension age means that they will end up working longer, paying more and getting less out.
The NPC believes that 68 is too late and the state pension age should be 65 for men and women, with a view to reducing it further.
Attacks on pensioner entitlements today will only erode pensioner entitlements in the future.
That’s why the National Pensioners’ Convention stands together with the workers of today to help ensure a better retirement for the pensioners of tomorrow.
Rodney Sadd
Crowland
