State pension age could be increased by 'four years' in blow to millions

Thousands are in the dark over state pension age changes - with rumours it could be increased to 70. The age of retirement is currently 66 and due to rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028, before a further increase to 68 in the mid-2040s.

But recent data from Hargreaves Lansdown shows that people’s desire for further increases are weakening with only one quarter (24%) of people saying they would be willing to work until the age of 70 to keep the Triple Lock.

Helen Morrissey said: “Drilling down into the results showed clear differences based on people’s ages. One-third of people aged between 18-34 said they would be willing to work longer, compared to only 18 per cent of those aged over 55. This is not surprising.

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“At 55 the prospect of retiring looms ever larger and you may be very wedded to your current State Pension age. You may also have developed health conditions that you know will make it very difficult to keep working past your mid-sixties.”

She continued: “For younger age groups, the prospect of retirement is many years away and the idea of working an extra couple of years may not seem so bad. It does, also show that, expensive as the Triple Lock is, younger age groups do value what it does.

“Adequacy will be a vital component of the Government’s ongoing pension review, and the State Pension and the Triple Lock’s role within it, should be an important part of the debate.

“With an ageing population, we need to make sure the State Pension is placed on a stable footing for many years to come, so people can continue to use it as the basis of their retirement planning. This means we need certainty in terms of what we are due to receive and when, so we can plan with some degree of confidence.”