The state pension age could be set to rise again, with Department of Work and Pensions head Pat McFadden speaking on the possible update. Ongoing updates to the pension age have already seen a retirement age rise from 66 to 67, with this confirmed to be in effect from April 6, 2026.
Those initially impacted are those born betwee April 6 and May 5, 1960, who will need to wait an extra month before collecting their pension payments. But a further hike could be passed by the government due to the ongoing review of the state pension age. McFadden was asked by MP Damien Egan on whether the rise to 68 as the new retirement age could come into force.
Egan asked: “I have some questions on the state pension and state pension age. First, we have this date of March 29 for a review of the state pension. Are we still on track for that, and when do you expect to conduct that review?”
McFadden confirmed this date, saying: “There are periodic reviews of this built into the process. The state pension age has been rising in the last couple of decades. I do not want to pre-empt anything, but that review is built into the process. That is the timescale, and I have no changes to announce on that this morning.”
Committee chair Debbie Abrahams said that the change was being done on the basis of greater life expectancy, but that this expectancy range changes across the country, CambridgeshireLive reported.
She flagged the potential change, saying: “The Health Foundation has shown that healthy life expectancy has fallen by two years on average, and it will be worse in constituencies such as mine and yours, Secretary of State. The first Pensions Commission pegged the increase in state pension age to life expectancy.”
McFadden said: “We should consider all these factors. I am conscious of and stand by what I just said to Mr Egan about how the same age can feel different and be experienced differently by people in different parts of the country. I am not trying to duck the question when I say this, but these are difficult decisions.
“You have to take into account affordability for the country, because even though it is a contributory system, it really works as a pay-as-you-go system. It has to be affordable and give people security in retirement, but it has to take into account the factors that you raise as well. We owe that to the public. It is a very delicate decision, which is why we do these careful reviews to take all these things into account.
“Half of 66-year-olds in the lowest income brackets are already frail, so there is perhaps a different conversation to be had there, but the bulk of the people we spoke to were anxious about being able to get back into the workplace once they had lost a job. It is quite right that to have the biggest impact, we focus on the young, but what would you say to people in the older groups?”
From April 2026, the Government commenced a gradual increase in State Pension age from 66 to 67, to be fully implemented within two years.
