Cut pension age to 63, say campaigners
Working later ‘unfair’ on the sick
THE state pension age must be cut rather than increased as too many people have to stop work years before they turn 66 or die before claiming anything, ministers are being told.
Forcing everyone to work later and later in life is unfair on the sick and those doing manual or stressful jobs, say campaigners.
Those calling for a reduction include former pensions minister Baroness Altmann, Silver Voices and the National Pensioners Convention, which is campaigning for the age to be cut even further – to 60.
A Parliamentary petition is also calling for the state pension age to be 63 to help those doing heavy physical jobs. It has gathered 12,000 signatures, but needs 100,000 for a debate.
Baroness Altmann said: “Forcing everyone to wait longer for their state pension has harsh impacts on the least well-off.”
Pressure
Older workers have been hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic and many will struggle to find work as recruiters favour younger employees.
Dennis Reed, director at Silver Voices, said: “After you reach 50, any life crisis can plunge you into poverty because employers look for younger and cheaper workers and do not recognise caring responsibilities.”
Figures showing that life expectancy is now falling have strengthened the case. Office for National Statistics show it has dropped by 7.8 weeks in England and 11 weeks in Scotland between 2018 and 2020.
Covid was partly to blame, yet even before it, life expectancy was slowing.
Tom Selby, of financial services giant AJ Bell, said that will heap pressure on the Government to rethink
the planned state pension age hike to 67 from 2026 and then to 68.
But the Government said: “Reducing it to 63 is neither affordable nor fair to taxpayers and future generations.”