The DWP has responded to calls for the Stage Pension age to be lowered to 60-years-old.
A petition launched earlier this month urging the government to reduce the age to avoid a jobs crisis has gained momentum as it now has 57,250 signature - as The Daily Record reports.
The document argues that allowing people to retire earlier will free up jobs for younger people and help avoid a youth unemployment crisis post-pandemic.
READ MORE: Government urged to lower pension age to 60 to avoid job crisis
The UK government must recognise any petitions that receive more than 10,000 sign-ups so this has meant that the DWP has issued a formal reply to dismiss the request.
The statement said: "Parliament has voted to equalise the State Pension age (SPa) and subsequent retirement ages for men and women. Reducing it to 60 is neither affordable nor fair to tax payers and future generations."
The DWP said the State Pension age was increased to 66 last October to avoid £215b overall cost to taxpayers for the period 2010/11 to 2025/26.
The State Pension age is scheduled to rise again to 68 between 2037 and 2039, which the UK Government says is necessary to ensure generational continuity and is line with an increase in life expectancy.
The latest projections from the Office for National Statistics show that the number of people over State Pension age in the UK is expected to grow by a third to 16.9 million in 2042.
You can read the full DWP response to the petition online here.
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