Worked into... the grave

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LIKELY TO STILL BE WORKING IF THE PENSION AGE IS RAISED TO 75 BY THE YEAR 2035?

PROPOSALS to increase the state pension age to 75 would affect millions of people across the UK. The rightwing Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), founded by former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, says increasing the state pension age to 75 by the year 2035 would allow for a more “sustainable” version of the state benefit. The current state pension age is 65. That latest population figures show there were 12.2 million people of pension age in 2018 - or 18.1% of the UK’s population. But just 11.8% of people would be able to retire and claim the state pension if the age is raised to 75 by the year 2035. The report said Britain can no longer afford the current plan of raising the pension age to 67 in 2028, then 68 by 2046 because we have an ageing and growing population and the process must therefore be sped up.

While there were 66.9 million people in the UK as of last year, that number is set to boom to 71.6 million by 2035. The report said: “The state pension is an important benefit that provides security to those who have retired. “If we expect this benefit to continue along with other public services, a sustainable State Pension Age must be introduced.”

Addressing the call for a rise in the state pension age, Mr Duncan Smith tweeted: “Removing barriers for older people to working longer has the potential to improve health and wellbeing, increase retirement savings & ensure the full functioning of public services for all.” But during a recent visit to Plymouth, the then DWP Secretary Amber Rudd said: “That is not government policy. “The government policy is set at young people entering the workforce to retire at 68, and there’s no prospect of raising that age to 75.” The most recent life expectancy figures show males born between 2015 and 2017 can expect to live until 79.2 years, while females can expect to live until they are 82.9 years old.