LABOUR are conducting an early review into raising the state pension age, it has been announced.
The UK Government is required to review the retirement age – currently 66 – every six years and the last review concluded in 2023.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall made the announcement as she revealed the UK Government would also revive the pensions commission to look at how to boost retirement income.
Following the last review into the state pension age, the previous government committed to raising the state pension age to 67 by 2028 and another review was proposed to be held within the first two years of the next parliament to look at putting it up to 68.
In a speech, Kendall said: “Put simply, unless we act, tomorrow’s pensioners will be poorer than today’s, because people who are saving aren’t saving enough for their retirement.”
The commission will look at how to boost pensioners’ incomes in 2027 but Kendall said she was “under no illusions” about how difficult it would be to map out plans for pensions for the coming decades amid "cost of living pressures”.
She added: “Many workers are more concerned about putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads than saving for a retirement that seems a long, long way away, and many businesses face huge challenges in keeping profitable and flexible in an increasingly uncertain world.”
It comes after expert warnings that people expecting to retire in 2050 will be £800 per year worse off than current pensioners.
Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville (above) said: "The Scottish Government has consistently warned the [[UK Government]] against raising the State Pension age more quickly than is needed.
“So, I welcome the fact the UK Government has committed to gathering more evidence before making any final decisions on a timeline.
“We look forward to the UK Government sharing their proposals with us and we will respond in due course.
“I am particularly keen to see that the difference in average life expectancies found across regions in the UK is fully considered. Otherwise, generations may be left behind, just as they have been before."
Angela Madden, chair of the Women Against State Pension Inequality pressure group, said: "If healthy life expectancy is increasing, it makes sense for the pension age to rise. But when the state pension age was rightly equalised and raised to 66 in 2011, the government failed to properly inform 1950s-born women, leaving many with just months' notice of a six-year delay.
“To add insult to injury, this Labour government is refusing to fix these mistakes – saying sending letters to 3.6 million women wouldn’t have made a difference. We say that is simply insulting.
“If the government is going to increase the retirement age, they have to start by fixing a historical injustice and compensating Waspi women.”
Elsewhere, Nigel Farage (above), whose Reform UK party is leading the polls, said at a press conference on Monday that it was "inevitable" the state pension age would have to rise.
He said: "I share the concern with pensions being unaffordable on a national level, I also share the concern at the absolute scandal of the private pensions industry, which has served people terribly but done frightfully well for itself.
“We’re going to have to face the reality that if people are living longer and longer, then inevitably retirement age is going to have to rise.”
