The Cabinet of Ministers has postponed a decision on an accelerated increase in the statutory retirement age until the next election.
Labor and Pensions Minister Mel Stride confirmed that a proposal to raise the retirement age to 68 by 2037 was rejected amid unchanged life expectancy.
He told the deputies that the decision would be reviewed within two years after the next elections, meaning they are expected to take place in 2026.
The government has said it remains committed to offering retirees a 10-year notice period for any changes.
Mr. Stride briefed MPs on the outcome of a legislative inquiry into whether the timetable for phasing out the retirement age should be changed.
Following the last review of pensions in 2017, the government passed a law to gradually raise the retirement age from 66 to 67 by 2028 and back to 68 between 2044 and 2046.
However, he also recommended that the next review of the legislation consider whether the increase to 68 should be pushed back to 2037–2039.
Since then, however, the increase in life expectancy has slowed down.
Mr Stride told MPs: “I intend to hold a new review within two years after the next Parliament reviews the increase to 68 people.
“This ensures that the government can take into account the latest information, including life expectancy and population projections.”
The planned increase in the statutory retirement age from 66 to 67 will occur between 2026 and 2028, Stride said.
“This government is committed to providing dignity and security in retirement and giving people the security they need to plan for their lives in the future,” Stride said.
“As a society, we should celebrate this [the] Increasing life expectancy, which has increased rapidly over the past century and is expected to continue to rise.
“However, since the first revision of the statutory retirement age in 2017, growth in life expectancy has slowed.
“This trend is being observed to varying degrees in much of the developed world. Most people in churches today are expected to live longer than their predecessors.
“Life expectancy is expected to continue to improve over time, but compared to the last statutory pension review, these improvements are expected to be slower.”
Mr Stride said fellow Conservative Baroness Neville-Rolfe, who conducted one of the assessments, did not take into account the long-term impact on life expectancy and finances of “problems” including the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
Shadow Works and Pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth welcomed the decision to delay the age increase, but said the stagnant life expectancy was a “damn indictment” for the government.
He said: “Today’s announcement that the statutory retirement age will no longer be raised is welcome and correct.
“But this is the clearest admission that the rising tide of poverty is shortening life expectancy for many people and that life expectancy is stagnating and falling in some of the poorest communities, a damning indictment of a 13-year failure that the minister had to admit. Today I must apologize.”
Source: I News
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