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Former Minister Warns The State Pension Age Could Rise To 68 Much Sooner Than Expected
With news that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed the state pension triple lock would be part of their election manifesto, bad news has been predicted. Retirement age could be increased to 68 a lot sooner than previously predicted.
A former MP has warned that those expecting to retire when they are 66 could have to wait another two years.
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According to Lord Willetts, a former Tory MP and current Tory peer and president of the Resolution Foundation think-tank, there is a strong possibility that the pension age may increase to 68 a lot quicker than previously been planned.
The current state pension age is 66 but the government have said they plan to raise this to 67 between 2026 and 2028 and to 68 between 2044 and 2048, but this could be brought forward.
Lord Willetts has said the implementation of the triple lock commitment may potentially result in an accelerated increase in the planned for how long people will have to work before receiving their pension.
Lord Willetts, who was a minister of state in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2010 to 2014, told the i: “The argument was, if we speed up the increase in the pension age, there will be fewer pensioners, and we’ll be able to pay them a higher pension. That was the trade-off on which the triple lock rested when it was first introduced, and it is a reminder that somehow or other these pledges have to be paid for, even with unpalatable measures like that which have come back and proved to be very controversial.”
David Gauke, a former work and pensions secretary who was in the Treasury in the early 2010s, said: “The triple lock proved to be more expensive in practice than was anticipated when the policy was first announced, just because of the way in which the economy operated after 2010.” He added: “Ultimately, governments are going to have to take into account the wider fiscal situation.”
Since the state pension age was increased to 66, tens of thousands of people in Lincolnshire have been forced to continue to work, even those in ill health have had to carry on working.
We have spoken to people in Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Skegness, Lincoln, and Scunthorpe to find out their opinion on the possibility of the state pension age being brought forward. The overall feeling is, the state pension age should be lowered and not increased.
Sarah from Scunthorpe who is due to retire next year said she is disgusted that she has been forced to work longer than expected. She expressed her concerns about the pension age being increased and believes her children could end up working until they are 70 if the government is not stopped.
Mike from Skegness who is due to retire this year believes state pension could be abolished by the time his grandchildren reach pension age. While Paul in Grimsby has said the state pension age will continue to be increased which will make it virtually impossible for his grandchildren to retire.
Out of the 50 people we spoke to, none of them believed that Labour would stop the increase in the state pension age.
One thing is for sure, the children of today will be working a lot longer than their parents and grandparents before they can expect to receive a state pension.